REVOLUTION 



Fop 



Price per Copy, 25 cents, 



REVOLUTION 



FOR THE 



CHURCHES 



So Far as it May Apply 



OR 



What the Silent are Thinking 



BY 



A LAYMAN. 




Copyrighted 1891 
By W. W. Andrews, Otisfield Gore, Maine. 



LC Control Numbe 
031605 



CONTENTS. 



Part First. 

The Bible eqiial to the changing thought and condition 
of men for all time. 

The goal of religious truth not yet reached. 

Christ infallible but the apostles not to be regarded as 
God ma?zifest in the flesh. 

The doclrijze of a New Birth reconsidered . 

Part Second. 

The doclrine of Christ's Atonement reconsidered . As 
?nost popularly taught, is not this doclrine becoming dis- 
tasteful and repulsive to thoughtful men? If so. not 
Christ, but fallible men are responsible. 

The life and death of Christ was to save men. but in a 
way consistent and rational . 

The Old Testament support of the popular faith con- 
cerning the atonement investigated* and its weakness 
exposed. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Being deeply impressed with a sense that the church is not 
receiving in our time that hearty support to which it is entitled 
from thousands of our most estimable fellow citizens, by rea- 
son of the fact that she, the Church, still persists in presenting 
the gospel as did the early fathers in their time in an age and 
to a people whose immediate wants and condition were so 
unlike the wants and condition of the people of the present 
day and generation ; and believing that the Bible is becoming 
a neglected book with multitudes because of the supposition 
that that book does in fact teach certain doctrines for which 
they can have no relish or fellowship and which to them is 
inconsistent and unintelligible ; and so without applying 
themselves to a thorough and independent investigation be- 
come indifferent to certain phases of the Christian religion, 
having neither the disposition to affirm nor the ability to deny 
the validity of these claims ; being thus impressed the author 
after studying and observing as opportunity has ottered for 
the last quarter of a century and having become fully per- 
suaded that there is a way out of all this mist and perplexing 
doubt, humbly otters this little work to the public as the 
result of this study and investigation, hoping thereby to have 
some influence however small it may be in holding up the 
Bible, that book of books, before the world as a spiritual 
guide capable of meeting the spiritual wants of the world 
to-day and for. all time to come, as it has proved itself capable 
of meeting the wants of succeeding ages of the past through 
its unfolding revelations. 



PART FIRST. 



The Bible equal to the changing thought a7td condition of 
all men for all time. — The goal of religious truth not 
yet reached. — Christ infallible; but the apostles not to 
be regarded as God manifest iit the flesh. — The doclrine 
of a nexv birth reconsidered. 



The Bible Invincible. 

Most people are ready to concede that ever since the world 
has had a written history mankind have been slowly but 
surely developing to a higher condition, in religious 
sense as well as morally, mentally and socially ; and that 
those nations that recognize our Bible as the word of God and 
to a greater or less extent are governed by its precepts and 
commands embrace within their limits the best people on the 
face of the earth. And yet for all of that every school boy 
knows that all who have had this one Bible for their guide 
have not strictly held to one faith or adhered to one form of 
worship, hence it must be conceeded that if by their fruits we 
are to know them, the world having grown better through 
changing religious thought and worship, the religion of to-day 
is better than any religion of the past when regarded collect- 
ively and comprehensively. Hence there can be but one con- 
clusion regarding this wonderful Book with its wonderful 
ability to offer a restful and sheltering faith to so many differ- 
ent classes of men among the great masses of humanity that 



6 



REVOLUTION f- OR THE CHURCHES. 



have been thrown upon the shores of time under such vary- 
ing circumstances and surroundings and endowed with such 
varying shades of intellectual acumen and power. And that 
inevitable conclusion is this : The facts of the Bible being 
thus wonderfully written, has been highly beneficial to our 

race : and no other book having- ever been brought into exiS- 
cs o 

tence like it, the conclusion that a designing; and overruling- 
Providence has ever been about it with a guiding and protect- 
ing hand challenges resistance. 

Of all the various and diverging doctrines that have been 
gleaned from that sacred volume who is to say that there has 
ever been one sincerely believed in and lived by. that has not 
been instrumental of good ? 

What other book could in the same narration give seeming 
support to two such diverging ideas as that of the materialist 
who would not give one cent for any hope of immortal life 
based upon any other hope than that of the literal resur- 
rection of the material bodv, and yet at the same time har- 
monizes itself with the faith of the spiritualist, which faith at 
death bids a final adieu to the body of flesh and hopes for im- 
mortal life through the continued existence of the essence of 
life, the undying soul. 

The story of the risen Lord affords a good illustration. 
The materialist proves his faith by pointing to the empty sep- 
ulcher and by calling attention to the exclamation of doubt- 
ing Thomas, when the Master bade him "Reach hither thy 
finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy 'hand and 
thrust it into my side." And he finds further evidence in the 
eating by the Master of broiled fish and of a honeycomb in 
the presence of the disciples. Yet a believer in materialized 
spirits sees no insurmountable obstacles to his faith in all this 
and defends his faith by calling attention to the marked con- 
trast between the intercourse of Jesus with his disciples before 
and after his resurrection : before his resurrection he was with 
his disciples constantly, or as much so as friends are apt to be ; 
after his resurrection he appeared unto them at intervales of 
considerable length of time and appeared suddenly and unex- 
pectedly, he appeared in their midst when the doors were 



THE BIBLE INVINCIBLE. 



/ 



shut. And after eight days again when the disciples were 
within, then came Jesus. The doors being shut is regarded by 
spiritualists as being something out of the common course, or 
rather would be out of the common course presuming that Je- 
sus was still cumbered with flesh and bones, yet all in harmo- 
ny with the appearance and disappearance of a disembodied 
spirit, and the idea seems to be strengthened in the narration 
of that walk that Jesus took with the two disciples to Emma- 
us. The fact that the familiar form and features and voice 
and those nail pierced hands and feet should be unrecognized 
until the last of the interview and that he should vanish from 
their .sight, indicates to those of this faith, that Jesus appear- 
ed at this time in "another form" from that with which the 
disciples were most familiar. And Mark xvi, 12 seems to 
give color to the idea that Jesus did appear in different forms. 

Whatever of truth or error there may be in either of the 
opposing ideas thus briefly outlined, if each gathers in his 
own way from the story of the risen Lord evidence of a con- 
tinued or renewed life after death and therebv gains strength 
to his hope of a blessed immortality, and although the one, 
owing to his peculiar education and intellectual endowments 
would be driven into skepticism and infidelity before he could 
accept the faith that is opposite to his own, and though the 
opposite faith may in fact embrace more of truth than his 
own, yet there is nothing in his own that leads him to be, or 
to do that which is unchristian, or that tends to divert his feet 
from the straight and narrow way. Who is prepared to say 
that it is not good for such a man, or such a class of men that 
the Bible has been so written as to be adapted to their pecul- 
iar wants or ability to receive ? Is it possible to draw from 
the sacred pages any faith that is not better than no faith at 
all ? For what matters it if we fail of arriving at correcl; con- 
clusions as to the conditions of the hereafter in all its details, 
or in regard to any and all things else except to that which 
tends to make or unmake the christian character? Do we 
not know that it is the design of the Almighty that in this life 
we shall "know but in part," and accordingly the sacred wri- 
ters were onh inspired "to prophesy but in part"? 



8 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



It would be a strange and unmerciful provision indeed for 
the Almighty to base his favor or reconciliation with man 
upon a faith or belief or disbelief in doctrines that have di- 
vided the different sects, — that is, such doctrines as those that 
their acceptance or rejection can have no influence whatever 
in shaping the christian character and conduct before God and 
men, for after a man in searching for the truth has brought to 
his aid all the means at his command, he is no more responsi- 
ble for the honest conclusions to which he arrives, than he is 
for having been born into the world. 

But it may be objected that in all conflicting ideas gathered 
from the scriptures one or the other at least must be erroneous 
and that it is inconsistent to presume that a wise and good 
God should so govern that anything but evil could be derived 
from error. But it must be acknowledged that while God de- 
sires the greatest good for his creatures, he has permitted 
our race to wander and stumble about more in darkness and 
to be enveloped vastly more in a cloud of uncertainty of igno- 
rance and positive error, than he has deigned to lift the veil 
that our limited vision might penetrate to the goal of absolute 
and positive certainty and truth. 

Before asking how good has come from varying and con- 
flicting ideas concerning gospel truth and from doctrines that 
have budded into existence and been ardently embraced by 
countless devotees only to be disregarded and ignored by suc- 
ceeding generations ; first tell us why in early time God per- 
mitted man to be in such ignorance concerning the form and 
movements of the earth and concerning the heavenly 
bodies that were supposed to be mere lights that were hung 
out for the special benefit of man ; and tell us why so many 
generations were doomed to live and die without enjoying the 
blessings secured to us in our time through the printing press ; 
and why were their lives not made easier and more lux- 
urious by the aid of labor-saving machinery, and through the 
power of steam and electricity? And why are not we to-day 
receiving further benefits from further developments of the 
same power that coming generations are morally certain 
to enjoy? And tell us why God's peculiar people were not 



THE BIBLE INVINCIBLE. 



9 



led at once into the light and liberty of the New Testament 
rather than to be compelled to grope their way through the 
mysticism and burdensome rites and ceremonies of the Old 
Testament ceremonial law ? 

Whether or not such questions can be satisfactorily an- 
swered, it is certain that in all things pertaining both to man's 
temporal and eternal well being our race have been called 
upon to work out their own salvation ; and as the ages have 
rolled on, thev who came after have had stepping stones to 
enable them to approximate higher toward the truth than they 
who have gone before. 

With those who may feel that the church or any branch of 
the church has to-day succeeded in planting itself upon the 
very summit of truth that there are no more camping grounds 
higher up for the church to occupy and do better service from 
a more commanding position, — with such we humbly beg 
leave to differ. And we are not alone in believing that there 
are such heights, and that thev are attainable. Nay more, — 
some of those heights have already been attained, not by the 
church in a body, but by an advance guard, who are not con- 
tent with the easy-going, inefficient camp life into which the 
church as a body seems to have settled, and who believing 
that we have fallen into a sort of semi-conscious state by be- 
ing" gorged with the husks of the sentimental in religion that 
has been fed so lavishly to the flock, are preparing the way 
for the church to come up higher and penetrate deeper, and 
become invigorated and its life blood quickened by way of 
feeding and being fed more exclusively upon the practical in 
religion, in other words, by way of returning and planting the 
church upon the simple and unperverted principles set forth 
by the great master, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

And now ideas are about to be advanced that perhaps may 
serve as a temptation for the reader to close the book with a 
determination to give no attention to anybody or anything 
that presumes to criticise the faith of the fathers in which they 
lived so happily and died so triumphantly, nor to give heed to 
any suggestions that are humbly offered in the firm belief that 
its adoption would lift the church into a sphere of greater 



IO 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



respect and usefulness. 

But as to the temptation referred to, it depends wholly 
upon the influences with which you have been surrounded and 
upon your natural inclinations. If you are one who is better 
content with things as they are, and have a native dislike for 
innovations you may certainly congratulate yourself upon 
being one among the vast majority of mankind, especiallv as 
regards innovations in matters of religion. Now it is well to 
be conservative, but bad to be bigoted. 

Remember that it was through the introduction of innova- 
tions through the persistent presentation of the new, that has 
lifted the church from Judaism, and carried it step by step 
until it has been planted where it is to-day, and every inch of 
the ground has been hotly contested between the lovers of the 
old and defenders of the new. In olden time the innovators 
were scourged, nailed to the cross, stoned, put to the rack and 
burned at the stake ; to-day they are railed at, talked about, 
shunned and feared. 

But let it be understood in regard to what we have to 
present that we lay no claim to infallibility, and we concede 
that it is not every innovation that is worthy of acceptance 
and adoption. And let it be understood, once for all, that 
we have not that egotism to presume that we are alone in the 
great mass of earnest thinkers who have through some chan- 
nel or through some course of reasoning or other arrived at 
substantially the same conclusions with ourselves. Further- 
more as far as our observation extends, the church as a body 
is being borne irresistibly along in its practice in a line very 
similar to that which our theory would have her pursue ; 
yet the practice is rather out of harmony with the current 
preaching. 

It is like this, — take for instance the matter of receiving 
members into the church. The preaching of regeneration by 
the Holy Spirit ; the going forward to the anxious seat, and 
the rising for prayers all indicate a presumption that fitness 
for church membership demands a supernatural conversion, 
yet we make bold to say that persons are admitted into the 
church in whom the supernatural is altogether too thin for 



PROGRESSION STILL POSSIBLE. 



discernment ; but more of this later on. 

We are fully persuaded that there are very many who will 

inwardly confess that there is not much of a chasm between 

themselves and ourselves in our theological ideas, and further- 
to ' i 

more that we have not told them much that they did not 
know before, yet like Nicodemus prefer to be considered as 
one of the popular church. 

We are also persuaded that there is a lesser number who 
have the honesty and courage to stand by their convictions 
who will openly declare that the views herein set forth accord 
in the main with their own preconceived ideas and endorse 
them as sound, rational and consistent. 

And now to you who are so rooted and grounded in the 
faith of the fathers that our words may seem like a canker 
calculated to corrode and destroy that which is the most 
sacred of all things you possess, that faith which you have 
regarded as the only sure anchor to your soul, — to you we 
would say that we are conscious of our fallibility and humbly 
ask that you patiently follow us through, if for no other 
reason, do so regarding our thoughts as an index to the 
difficulties that lie in the way of so many among your 
acquaintances including many of your most highly respected 
fellow citizens from becoming aclive workers in the cause of 
the church and Christianity. 

We trust that we are fully alive to the great responsi- 
bility resting upon us in what we have undertaken. Our aim 
is to secure greater respect for the Christian religion, and to 
arouse greater earnestness and inspire greater vitality for the 
church. And shall we say it ? to bring her up to unfeigned 
sincerity and to unflinching honesty. If it should please God 
to make us humbly instrumental in so doing by causing a 
a clearer light to be shed upon his Word, we will thank him 
for it. If on the other hand that which we in our simplicity 
regard as light should prove to be in the sight of Heaven but 
darkness, and they who are out of darkness, and have been 
illuminated by heaven's pure and unmistakable light should 
deign to take sufficient notice of our errors as to answer our 
enquiries and correct our mistakes and in so doing give the 



1 



12 REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 

popular teaching of to-day such a vindication as to carry con- 
viction to the indifferent, the doubting and the skeptical ones 
that the church has already arrived as near to the ultimatum 
of truth as may be expedled in this life, — then shall we have 
equal reason to thank Him who is able even to make "the 
wrath of man to praise him" for what he has done through us. 

We presume that by this time the reader may be wonder- 
ing how any one can have the presumption to think of throw- 
ing new light upon the scriptures in this late day of the Chris- 
tian Era ; permit us to explain that we neither claim the ability 
nor have the disposition to undertake the part of the commen- 
tator only in a very limited sense. 

Generally speaking we accept the explanations by our 
commentators of scriptural language so far as getting the 
original ideas intended to be conveyed by the writer is con- 
cerned. 

But one thing to which we do object, is the manner that 
seems to be so very prevalent among students of the Bible, of 
attributing equal importance to whatever may be said or writ- 
ten if it is only found within the lids of the Bible whether it 
be the words of a prophet, Christ or an apostle, and with but 
little regard to the time, place and circumstances attending the 
words spoken or written, or to whom they were addressed. 

We have particular objection to the adherence of the 
church to-day to ideas for which the apostles are wholly re- 
sponsible with scarcely a shadow of support either from the 
words or example of Jesus their Lord and Master. 

As to the teaching and practice of the apostles, fishermen of 
men as they were, being founded in wisdom and being adapted 
to early time we have not a word of criticism to offer ; we be- 
lieve God in heaven smiled upon and blessed them in their' 
effort to win men up higher in the scale of humanity. Yet 
who and what were they? They were men subject to like 
passions as we are ; it is true they were endowed with some 
remarkable and miraculous gifts, but they were never infalli- 
ble, a fact which they fully understood themselves, and Paul 
thus declares it : "We know but in part, we prophesy but in 
part. We see as through a glass darkly." While with the 



APOSTLES NOT INFALLIBLE YET INSPIRED. 



13 



Master they were only disciples or learners, and like other mas- 
ters and teachers the Lord found in his pupils a proneness to 
blundering and stupidity and often a dullness of comprehen- 
sion that was trying. 

We have only to read the New Testament with the eye of 
the mind open to discover the fallibility of the apostles. 
Yet our knowledge of the lives and sayings of these men 
must of necessity be forever fragmentary at least, although the 
little that is recorded of them is so often and so persistent- 
ly rehearsed in our hearing w e feel that no one has ever lived 
in the past with whom we are so well acquainted. It would 
afford a good idea of how little is recorded of these men if we 
should take the trouble to collect all that has been handed 
down concerning any one of them and place it by the side of 
what might be collected of the sermons, the books, the say- 
ings and the life of such a man as H. W. Beecher : on the 
one hand we would have but a few hours of reading at most, 
on the other hand we should have months of reading. Yet 
there is enough handed down to us concerning the apostles to 
reveal the fact that* with all their gifts they were limited in 
power, in understanding and in wisdom. The most careless 
reader cannot fail to notice that while with the Master they 
were but as children in understanding ; if it were not so why 
that constant questioning? And when the Master replies, 
"Are ye yet also without understanding?" is there not a dull- 
ness of comprehension implied that was almost inexcusable ? 

Think of it ! After three years of constant intercourse 
with their Lord so imperfectly do they understand his mission 
and the kingdom he was to set up, they ask of him at the 
very last, "Wilt thou at this time restore again Jerusalem?" 
And it should be remembered that these characteristics were 
equally conspicuous after as well as before miraculous gifts 
had been imparted to them. 

Even after receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pente- 
cost, while they were stronger men, and more steadfast in 
their work they were far, very far from being equal to their 
Lord and Master in power of knowing and understandino- 
raen and things. When Paul "assayed to join himself to the 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



disciples" they were all afraid of him and "believed not that 
he was a disciple," but Jesus would not have required any ex- 
planation by Barnabas of Saul's conversion, for he knew the 
hearts of men, and needed no instruction as did the disciples 
in common with other men. That they were not wholly 
changed from the human to the Divine nature is well illustrat- 
ed in that gathering together of the apostles and elders at Je- 
rusalem to consider the matter of subjecting the converted 
Gentiles to the ordinance of circumcision. Had they been in- 
fallible there should have been a perfect agreement upon all 
such questions, but the matter was only settled after "much 
disputing." Yet who can doubt that the council of God pre- 
vailed in that convention ? And who can estimate the migh- 
ty influence the final decision had upon the future of Chris- 
tianity, and of the world? And who can doubt the genuine- 
ness of the claim that the Holy Spirit had an influence in the 
dictation of that letter to the heathen Gentile brethren ? for it 
seemed good to them to put no further burden upon these 
brethren, "than these necessary things, That ye abstain from 
meats ottered to idols, and from blood, and»from things stran- 
gled and from fornication ; from which if ye keep yourselves, 
ye shall do well. Fare ye well." 

In this simple creed, (if we may call it a creed) the very 
absence of all mention or allusion to the idea of love to God 
or to man, and the fact that no allusion is made to the 
"Golden Rule," proves its inspiration. Put no further 
burden upon children than they can bear ; to exact more is to 
spoil them. This brief epistle to the Gentiles has within it 
the whole idea of God's way of bringing men up to a har- 
mony and unity with himself, little by little. 

But in close connection with the foregoing, (all within the 
15th Chapter of Acts) we find another illustration of the falli- 
bility of the apostles, we refer to that " sharp contention" that 
arose between Paul and Barnabas about taking John, whose 
surname was Mark with them on a visit to the brethren in the 
cities where they had preached the gospel, and " so sharp was 
the contention that they departed asunder one from the other." 
If God had inspired these men to fulfill his purposes to that 



APOSTLES NOT INFALLIBLE YET INSPIRED. 



15 



extent that it was impossible for them to err, how could it 
have ever been possible for such a disagreement to have arisen 
between them ? 

Again we learn from Galatians, ii, 11, that fallible Peter 
did that which was so flagrantly improper that Paul ' ' with- 
stood him to the face because (as he declared) he was 
to be blamed." Paul unquestionably supposed himself to 
be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit generally speaking, 
but sometimes according to his own declaration, he taught 
••as a man," and again he seems to be in doubt whether he 
was in the spirit or not. In 1st Cor., vii, he advances ideas 
" after my judgment." as he -says, (40th verse) and adds "I 
think that I also have the spirit of God." We should sooner 
agree with him if he had not been speaking disparaginglv of 
.married life. Yet old bachelors in our day talk very much 
the same. Any one familiar with Paul's writings will call to 
mind such expressions as "I wist not," or 4i I know not," 
indicating a limited understanding, also a forgetfulness, traits 
of character common to all mankind, but traits which we 
should not expect to find in a God manifest in the flesh ; but 
as to that no one believes an apostle to have been a God 
manifest in the flesh. Yet many there are who have such a 
reverence for the sayings of the apostles that they accept as 
God's truth some of the most absurd and God-dishonorino- 
doctrines that are seemingly, if not most emphaticallv and 
undeniably supported by these men and for which they, the 
apostles, are alone responsible, and these doctrines are not 
accepted as merely being necessary and helpful to the ancient 
undeveloped people for whom they were designed and to 
whom the words of the apostles were directed, but these 
doctrines are regarded to-day with such reverence that it is 
thought to be of the most vital importance that they are accept- 
ed, believed in and lived by. 

From whence do men obtain license to attribute to the 
apostles power, and virtue and wisdom which thev never 
claimed for themselves ? As for their virtue, when Paul, the 
chief of the apostles, says for himself (Romans, vii. 19) ; 'For 
the good that I would, I do not ; but the evil which I would 



i6 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



not, that do I," even after his conversion and he had 
been a preacher for years, why not accept his statement as the 
truth ? And why not accept his own valuation of himself and 
his associates in regard to their wisdom and prophetic powers ? 
In i st Cor. , xiii, 9-12, we get his estimate thereof if it is in 
the power of language to express it. His words, "For we 
know in part," are not equivalent to saying we know the 
whole; and the words, "we prophesy in part," are not equiv- 
alent to professing to have power to foretell accurately all that 
God has in store for the children of men. Paul does not 
contradict the sentiment that he has elsewhere expressed, 
"Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into 
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for 
them that love him." But to return to 1st Cor., viii, Paul 
goes on to say, "When that which is perfect is come then 
that which is in part shall be done away." That which is 
perfect has reference of course to the life to come. He further 
says, "When I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as 
a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man I put 
awav childish things ;" the very obvious meaning of these 
words are, the part which they knew and could prophesy 
were as the imperfect conceptions and reasonings of a child as 
compared with that fulness of understanding to which we 
shall attain when that which is in part is done away, and we 
with the apostles have become men in wisdom under the 
favoring conditions of the life to come. The expression, 
"For now we see through a glass darkly," as well expresses 
our own views of how much reliance may wisely be placed in 
apostolic sayings touching the deep things that are fully 
known only to him who alone is Omniscient as any words at 
our command. What other words could Paul have so fitting- 
ly used to rebuke those who so persistingly adhere to a verbal 
understanding of the writings of the apostles. Objects seen 
through the imperfect glass of the ancients could not be per- 
fectly discerned or understood. Paul was conscious that 
divine things were in like manner imperfectly revealed to him. 

And when we remember that language either written or 
spoken only expresses our thoughts and feelings imperfectly. 



APOSTLES NOT INFALLIBLE YET INSPIRED. 



and when we further remember that such was the obscurity of 
Paul's manner of writing that even Peter, living in his own 
time and familiar with the original language that had not suf- 
fered from translation, has this to say, "even as our brother 
Paul also according to the wisdom given imto him hath writ- 
ten unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them ; in 
which are some things hard to be understood.'''' Bearing 
these things in mind is it not high time for the church to con- 
sider whether by forcing upon the people doctrines gleaned 
from the Acts of the Apostles and from their epistles for which 
thoughtful and intelligent men have no relish, they are not 
"wresting the scriptures unto their own destruction." 

By this time the reader has doubtless come to the conclu- 
sion that the writer presumes that there is much in the teach- 
ings of the apostles that cannot consistently be harmonized 
with the teachings of Jesus. Suffice it to say that here would 
be an opening of a held of discussion to which this little 
work is not dedicated. But we are well aware that most, or 
at least many with whom we have no disagreement in our un- 
derstanding of religious or biblical truths, would have a way 
satisfactory to themselves of bringing the whole Bible in har- 
mony with their views. But it is also unfortunately true of 
the defenders of each and every one of the many diverging 
seels into which the church has been divided and weakened 
during the centuries that have passed and gone. And may 
we not well despair of ever seeing a united Christian Church 
until some new method of presenting gospel truth has been 
inaugurated. 

The Catholic Church appears to be a very strongly united 
bodv, but it is popularly believed among Protestants that this 
solidity is the result of a studied discouragement, if not a sup- 
pression of free and independent religious thought, and of in- 
dependent personal investigation. But thank Heaven the 
time is passing by for Protestants at least to be thus enslaved. 
And we venture the prediction that He who sits upon the cir- 
cle of the earth and governs even in the affairs of men, has in 
store for us a united Church, and that that union will be 
brought about and is being brought about upon a basis of a 



iS 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



return to that creed so simple and so plain, and so easily un- 
derstood that he who runs may read and understand, — that 
creed embodied in the sermon on the mount, as it came from 
the lips of the Lord and Master, and was exemplified in 
his life, in his constant endeavor to do good to sinful men. 

Against this simple creed the apostles did not antagonize 
themselves, on the contrarv they reaffirmed and repeated it 
over and over again. But then" labors were among people 
altogether different from the people of the 19th century. 
They were among idolatrous people and people of their own 
nationality whose worship had been degraded to the grossest 
formalism in which blood and sacrifice was a most prominent 
and conspicuous feature, and as they, the apostles, could only 
look upon men and things both temporal and eternal, as it 
were through a "glass darkh ," is it not the most natural con- 
clusion in the world that their dimmed prophetic vision saw 
in the hazy mists imagery and reflections corresponding with 
their own lifelong education and surroundings, and that 
threads of the old religion would be interwoven into the text- 
ure of the new religion, which in God's mysterious way was 
far more helpful and needful to those people with whom the 
apostle« labored and to whom their words were always ad- 
dressed (for they did not talk to people who were to be born 
eighteen or nineteen hundred years after they were dead) far 
more helpful and needful we say to those people than to people 
of our day who are fully emerged from the conditions of apos- 
tolic time. Hence the question arises, would not the relig- 
ion of to-day be more beautiful and more adapted to our 
wants if some of the yet lingering threads of Judaism were 
left out of our religious creed and christian instruction ? 

In their ministry the apostles were first of all anxious to 
have the world believe as they believed, that Jesus was the 
Christ, hence the persistent cry, — "believe, believe, believe, 
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy 
house," consequently would' be christians have all the wav 
along been mystified and hampered in trying to understand 
how they are to get a faith that will be worth more to them 
in the day of judgment than it would be to have it said unto 



FAITH. WHAT ABOUT IT? 



J 9 



them "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
these my disciples ye have done it unto me." 

Dear reader, you know that you never could see any con- 
sistency in the idea of basing the conditions of salvation upon 
faith in any body or any thing, so far as faith implies simply 
the giving of the assent of the understanding to certain ideas 
or alleged truths as being true and according to the fact. For 
if a certain class of people are to be saved, and others are to 
be lost, it would seem that the priceless gift of salvation 
should be based upon some sort of merit in and of the person 
himself, it would seem that there should be some good accom- 
plished by him at the sacrifice of his own personal ease and 
comfort. But to presume that the Almighty can look with 
special favor upon those who merely accept as truth certain 
supposed christian doctrines and are lead to lean upon the 
ideas thus inculcated and upon that inward peace generated by 
a sense of safety and security, — is simply to presume that God 
bestows his favor without any regard whatever to merit, and 
in numerous instances would amount substantially to reward- 
ing blind and unreasoning credulity. The absurdity of merit 
in faith — as such pure and simple — is most apparent when we 
reflect that whatever a man believes honestly and sincerely he 
is no more responsible for than he is for the color of his skin. 

If it is indeed the decree of the Almighty that whatever of 
salvation there is for the human race is to be attained through 
the blood shed on Calvary, and one man by nature and by ed- 
ucation readily and sincerely believes it, and another man 
whose life and daily walk is exactly parallel with the one first 
mentioned with this exception his nature and education is 
such that he cannot possibly bring himself to accept or be- 
lieve said doctrine to be true. Though it is God's truth all 
the same, will God place the one on the right hand and the 
other on his left hand, — make all the difference there is be- 
tween Heaven and Hell for these two men, when the faith of 
the one is no more meritorious than the unbelief of the other, 
for each are alike powerless to escape the conclusions to 
which they have arrived through the force of circumstances 
by which God has surrounded them- and from the fact that he 



20 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



himself has seen fit to bestow upon them unequal endowments 
and natural abilities? 

To those who are in the least perplexed as to what faith 
has to do with Christianity we would say shut your eyes and 
ears to all things else and turn to Jesus, to Jesus himself and 
to his own words. Notice what he said to each and every one 
who came and asked what they should do to inherit eternal 
life ; also notice who are those on his right hand and those on 
his left hand at the judgment day. Notice that there is no in- 
timation that faith or a lack of faith in any body or any thing 
will be the means of including or excluding any one from the 
kingdom of heaven. 

Notice that the idea prevails both throughout the life and 
teaching of Jesus that man's well being depends upon what 
we are, what we have been, what we have done and what we 
have left undone. 

But you say that Jesus makes frequent mention of believ- 
ing in him and seems very often to attach great importance to 
it. Very true : but in nowise did he hold up an empty faith 
as being an all-sufficient means of obtaining an entrance into 
the kingdom. 

He never went back upon his promises to those sincere 
inquirers. Divest your mind of the impressions received 
from the writings of the apostles and the teaching of men and 
you -will easily understand that what Jesus said of faith . in 
himself had reference only to faith in him as a teacher of that 
which was new, and opposed to the prevailing teaching of his 
day by the Scribes and Pharisees. Nowhere is there a record- 
ed expression that fell direct from the Master's lips, that the 
idea of faith or belief taken with the context implies any- 
thing more than the assent of the understanding to the truth 
of his being what he claimed to be a divine teacher,- — of 
course with an implied acceptance on the part of the believer 
and an embracing with the heart and affections his revela- 
tions, his doctrines and teachings and thus faith becoming the 
source of sincere obedience to him exhibited in the life aitd 
conversation. 

Whatever of truth there may be in what we have been 



THE NEW BIRTH RECONSIDERED. 



2 I 



taught by men that "faith in Christ is a grace wrought in the 
heart by the Holy Spirit," in a miraculous sense, that is in 
marked contrast with the acceptance of other truths to which 
we give the assent of the understanding, careful investigation 
has failed to disclose to our mind any support whatever for 
this doctrine from the recorded words of Christ. 

And of all those who did believe in him in his own day 
to that degree of sincerity that they forsook father and mother, 
houses and lands and followed him, to say nothing of those 
who had sufficient faith in him to be healed of their infirmi- 
ties there is no evidence that they were wrought upon by any 
influence more remarkable than the patriotism that influences 
men to forsake the same objects of their affection to follow 
their military leader and fight for their country in the defence 
of a cause which they believe to be worthy. And as military 
leaders as well as political leaders and leaders in all other en- 
terprises (Christianity except) in this practical age of ours in 
winning converts to their cause discard that circumlocution 
which says to men have faith in this cause, but seek to inspire 
faith in as direct a manner as possible and simply ask of men 
to espouse their cause and give their heart and hand in the 
same. Why should not the church in this same practical age 
discard all circumlocution and be content to appeal to men to 
be practical christians? If men can only be persuaded to 
walk in the straight and itarrow way, why not tell them to 
give no thought as to whether faith and supernatural change 
of heart have gone on before them or are going along with 
them or are lagging along behind ? 

Why not be content to tell men the simple story of Jesus 
and his love and thus inspire faith and encourage them to 
engage in his cause simply by working in his vineyard 
with heart and hand thus blessing and being blessed? 
And in this connection should we not above all things incul- 
cate the truth that to work in the vineyard of Christ we 
should work with a higher inspiration than from the prompt- 
ings of self seeking or with an idea that a given amount of 
work will secure a given amount of heaven ? Let us rather 
seek to inspire such love for purity and holiness and such com- 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



passion for the needy and erring ones, that the inspiration to 
work in the vineyard shall be as spontaneous as it' is to breathe 
the pure air of heaven. 

If you are going to a neighboring city to engage in busi- 
ness you are not called upon to be very much absorbed in the 
mode of conveyance by which you are to get there, you are 
giving your attention to business, though conveyance is an in- 
dispensable means to the accomplishment of the end in view. 
As in matters of business so in matters of Christianity faith be- 
comes an indispensable means to the accomplishment of the 
end, for without faith one would scarcely seek to accomplish 
an end. But when one has imbibed an idea that faith in 
Christ is a grace wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit (the 
possibility of which we do not assume to deny) and that one 
must undergo certain mental evolutions in order to be fitted 
for a supernatural change of heart the natural tendency is for 
the attention to be turned inward upon one's self watching for 
a miraculous change (which quite likely will never come in a 
manner and with the power anticipated) and thus become en- 
grossed in the mode of conveyance or means to the great det- 
riment to the end in view. And again we repeat it there is 
no evidence that the Lord and Master himself ever inculcated 
the idea that faith in himself was a supernatural gift or en- 
dowment. This being granted it would seem, in view of the 
general lukewarmness of the world in regard to these 
things that it would be well for the church to consider wheth- 
er by her innovations she has improved upon His simple 
method of presenting His gospel. And will we not do 
well when called upon to expound upon the doctrine 
of faith to profit by the suggestions of the Apostle 
James embodied in these familiar words, "What doth it prof- 
it my brethren though a man say he hath faith and have not 
works ! can faith save him ? If a brother or sister be naked, 
and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them 
depart in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding ye 
give them not those things which are needful to the body ; 
what doth it profit? Even so faith if it hath not works is 
dead being alone. Yea a man may say thou hast faith and I 



THE NEW BIRTH RECONSIDERED. 



23 



have works, show me thy faith without thy works and I will 
show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest there is one 
God thou dost well ; the devils also believe and tremble. But 
wilt thou know O vain man that faith without works is dead." 
From which we learn that a man may have faith to remove 
mountains, yet if his faith does not lead to practical efficiency 
— to works of love — he will some day believe and tremble as 
devils do. * 

But let us be careful to fully consider all the words of 
Christ bearing upon the question. What shall we do to be- 
come christians and to inherit the kingdom of heaven ? No 
other language used by him can so readily be construed to 
sustain the idea of a supernatural element in christiainity as 
the words of Jesus in that interview with Nicodemus who 
came to him by night, and although John was the only one of 
the four evangelists who deemed his interview worthy of rec- 
ord, the truth of John's narration will stand all the same. 

4 ' Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say 
unto thee, except a man be born again he cannot see the king- 
dom of God." What does he mean by a new birth? Did he 
reveal to this one man all alone a momentous truth that he 
withheld from the young lawyer who came to him with that 
same anxious inquiry? Did he reveal to this one man in the 
shadowy night the one only entrance way to heaven, and then 
tell the world that they who are to be on his right hand in the 
great and last judgment day are to be there because of their 
having "done it," because of their doing acts of kindness unto 
one of the least of his disciples ? Was he so partial to Nico- 
demus as to reveal to him the only way of acceptance with 
God, and then tell the man who made a feast that when he 
fed the lame, the halt and the blind that he would be recom- 
pensed in the resurrection of the just, without an intimation 
that a new birth was the one thing needful? Not by any 
means. Whatever Jesus said to one man concerning the 
ways of eternal life was in perfect, harmony with whatever he 
said to other men, otherwise he could not have been a Divine 
teacher. 

He must have told the same truths concerning eternal life 



REVOLUTION h OR THE CHURCHES. 



on each and every occasion, but he did not always use the 
same style of expression. 

Now, those on the right hand are invited to come and 
inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of 
the world for the following reasons, "For I was a hungered 
and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink ; I 
was a stranger and ye took me in ; Naked and ye clothed me ; 
I was sick and ye visited me ; I was in prison and ye came 
unto me." Such things performed in the spirit of disinterest- 
ed benevolence and in a spirit of self-surrender and self-forget- 
fulness, will characterize those on the right hand no one will 
ever question as being the meaning expressed by these words 
of Christ. 

Then it follows as a logical conclusion that the words of 
Christ to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again he can- 
not see the Kingdom of God," Implies that a man must be 
born into a higher spiritual life than his natural instinctive life 
of selfishness, — he must be born into a life in which he will 
instinctively hate that which is wrong and strive against sin, 
and seek to lead a life of usefulness in blessing others and in 
turn being blessed. 

Such a life must indeed be such a marked contrast to that 
life that gives reign to the natural desires and selfish propensi- 
ties, that it may well be called being born again. This being 
granted, all of Christ's different modes of expression becomes 
intelligible and harmonious. And that silent evolution, that 
growth of love and righteousness in the innermost soul made 
manifest in the daily walk and conversation is indeed as the 
wind, "thou nearest the sound thereof but canst not tell 
whence it cometh and whither it goeth." 

But to be born of the Spirit, is it supernatural ? In a cer- 
tain sense it certainly is, but no more so than every other life 
that is born into existence and is capable* of growth every- 
where, from the tiniest spear of grass to the crowning work 
of the Creator, man, in all created things the unfathomable 
miracles of God forever go on. 

As for poor man he cannot tell how a thing is born nor 
how it grows, he is powerless to imitate, he cannot give life. 



THE NEW BIRTH RECONSIDERED. 



25 



All incipient life is wrought out through the miracle of nature 
or of God or of the Spirit whichever term one likes the best. 

Now inasmuch as we are conscious that we can see and 
hear, and can eat, drink and sleep we allow that we are men 
without troubling ourselves with the question as to whether 
our physical birth was supernatural or not. Why is it not 
just as consistent when we see a man exhibiting in his daily 
life and conversation the fruits of the Spirit to allow that he 
is a christian without troubling him with questions as to 
whether his Spiritual birth was supernatural or not ? And 
right here comes in a thought that may be worthy of mention. 
The ancient Gentile world had God's many, at the same time 
God's peculiar people TJta#*^¥i46k^ia4:wn or at least the 
early christian world seems to have entertained the idea of a 
Triune God, u The Father, Son and Holy Spirit," and while 
this Godhead was regarded as the author of good, they also 
believed that the author of all evil was the Devil or devils, — 
real intelligent active beings, but for all of that we venture the 
opinion that it is a very small portion of enlightened Chris- 
tendom to-day who sincerely believe .that their evil and sinful 
propensities are the promptings of any other influence or 
power than their own natural inborn human nature, and the 
44 cloven-footed" individual is no more a reality to the average 
mind than ghosts and wizards are. Yet if one prefers to 
express ideas through the use of words of the olden time it is 
just as well to say, for instance. 4 4 Resist the Devil and he will 
flee from you," as to say 44 Resist your natural evil inclinations 
and you will overcome them," provided your meaning is 
understood, and yet why is not the latter expression just as 
good and even better in our day ? Christ never meddled with 
the established views of his day as to what or where is Heaven 
hell nor concerning the earth, whether it is flat of round ; he 
also used familiar expressions of his day pertaining to the 
Deity and spirits both bad and good. Hence the question 
arises (which we will not attempt to answer) might not Christ 
in his interview with Nicodemus make mention of the Holy 
Spirit without any intention of enforcing the idea that the 
Holy Spirit was in fact a distinct third person of a trinity, or 



l6 



REY'OLUTIO.N FOR THE CHURCHES. 



that to be born of the Spirit was any thing more or less than a 
result brought about through the operation of natural laws of 
our being, natural results of natural causes ? is it a miracle and 
yet not a miracle ? only as the growth of a spear of grass is a 
miracle ? 

Now if the receiving of the Spirit is of such vital impor- 
tance as we have been educated to believe, we can devote our 
time to no better purpose than to investigate and understand 
the manner of its bestowal, how we shall be made aware of 
its reception, also the condition to which we must be brought, 
and the preparation we must make in order to receive it. 

Was the demonstration of the Spirit mentioned by Jesus 
in this interview with Nicodemus to be invoked and imparted 
to all men, in all ages of the world through any given formula 
that should work in the individual new and marked character- 
istics either uniform with each and every person or diverse in 
its operation ? Let us look at the facts and consider instances- 
as they have occurred. The Spirit descended upon Jesus in 
bodily form like a dove ; if that was being born of the Spirit, 
we have no knowledge that the occurence ever had a parallel. 
At a certain interview with his disciples Jesus breathed upon 
them and said "Receive ye the Holy Ghost;" if at that time 
the disciples experienced the new birth, the manner of the 
imparting stands as a solitary occurrence in the history of the 
church . 

Again ' 4 when the day of Pentecost was fully come they 
were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there 
came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and 
it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there 
appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat 
upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy 
Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave 
them utterance." Diverse from all other demonstrations of the 
Spirit of which we have any information the approach thereof 
in this instance was audible, like a rushing, mighty wind. 

And yet again in the 8th chapter of A6ts we read of the 
bestowing of the Spirit in a manner not strictly in accordance 
with either of the instances referred to. "Now when the 



THE XEW BIRTH RECONSIDERED. 



2 7 



apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had 
received the word of God they sent unto them Peter and 
John ; who when they were come down prayed for them 
that they might receive the Holy Ghost, (for as vet it had 
fallen upon none of them only they were baptized in the name 
of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them 
and they received the Holy Ghost. So now, prayer and the 
laying on of hands appears to be the medium of bestowal, 
but of the effect on the receiver nothing is recorded. 

The thoughts thus far suggested regarding" the bestowal of 
the Spirit, are, first, in the days of Christ and the apostles, in 
one instance it was visible, in another it was audible, in anoth- 
er it came 'mot with observation," it was neither visible nor 
audible and the fact of its reception by the individual could 
only have been known by the power of working miracles that 
may have been bestowed, or the influence it may have had 
upon the lives of the recipients : but of the after lives and 
character of the recipients, those obscure ones of Samaria we 
knouo nothing. 

Secondly, in striking contrast with modern ideas, the 
Spirit was not bestowed upon the receiver in answer to his 
own prayer in behalf of himself, in fact it is scarcely evident 
that it was sincerelv desired. 

Thirdly, in regard to the disciples themselves having been 
born again, there is absolutelv nothing; in their history that 
warrants the conclusion that there was any one period in their 
lives to which they could refer as being the time when they 
were born again, or a time when they became very much dif- 
ferent from what they were before. Did they perform mira- 
cles after the day of Pentecost? Yes; and long before also. 
Were they fallible men before the day of Pentecost ? Yes : 
and they were fallible men after the day of Pentecost also. 
But we may safely conclude that they gradually became bet- 
ter and stronger men all through their lives ; in other words., 
that with the disciples (not apostles, we shall speak of Paul's 
conversion further on) the new birth as with other men was 
an every clay experience, an experience that may forever be in 
process of development through time and eternity. 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



Let us now briefly consider what it was in early time that 
a man could do, what he felt, or what he knew after receiv- 
ing the Spirit or being born again, that he could not do or 
feel, or know before such conversion. 

Paul does not leave us in doubt as to how he regarded the 
diverse manifestations of the spirit. In the 12th chapter of 
1st Cor., commencing at the Sth verse we read as follows: 
For to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom ; to 
another the word of knowledge by the same spirit ; to anoth- 
er faith by the same spirit ; to another the gift of healing by 
the same spirit ; to another the working of miracles ; to an- 
other prophesy ; to another discerning of spirits ; to another 
diverse kinds of tongues - T to another the interpretation of 
tongues. Most certainly there were in those days demonstra- 
tions of the Spirit that partook of the supernatural and were 
out of the common course of nature. But how is it to-day? 
All is changed, radically changed. No man living ever saw 
the Spirit descending in a bodily form. No man living was 
ever made aware of its coming by a sound as of a rushing 
mighty wind. No man to-day has ever received the Spirit 
by being breathed upon by another person either human or 
Divine ; and if any one to-day pretends to bestow the Spirit 
by the laying on of hands we take the responsibility of saying 
it is all a delusion and a mockery. But is there nothing 
whatever concerning the receiving of the Spirit anciently 
and in modern time that is parallel or similar? There is a 
parallel in just one respect. The church to-day teaches that 
the Spirit should be sought by way of prayer and intercession. 
The New Testament supports the same idea to this extent, 
Jesus assured the disciples that he would 4 4 pray the Father 
and he shall give you another Comforter that he m^ abide 
with you forever, Even the Spirit of truth." Again we read 
(Acts viii, 14-15) Now when the apostles which were at Je- 
rusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God 
they sent unto them Peter and John, who when they were 
come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy 
Ghost. These two instances comprise all that we are able to 
find in the New Testament among about one hundred and 



THE NEW BIRTH RECONSIDERED. 



fifty allusions to prayer, where the Holy Spirit was directly 
petitioned for, or where the Spirit was alluded to in a manner 
that indicated that it might be received in answer to prayer. 
Although according to Luke xi, 13 Jesus who had just been 
teaching the disciples how to pray, which form of prayer 
however includes no reference to the Holy Spirit, as such, — 
that is, as a special favor that should be asked for, — did say, 
"If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your 
children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the 
Holy Spirit to them that ask him." But in Matt, vii, 11, we 
read where Jesus in precisely the same connection of thought, 
makes no mention of the gift of the Holy Spirit, but substi- 
tutes the words, "good things," words of broader applica- 
tion. Thus, if ye then being evil know how to give good 
gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father 
which is in heaven give good things to them that ask them. 
And even in the instance where Peter and John prayed for the 
gift of the Spirit the context plainly shows that the gift of the 
Spirit was regarded more as the result of the laying on of the 
apostles' hands than as an answer to prayer. 

So in these two or three instances we have brought tO- 
gether all that we are able to find in that great book, the 
Bible, that can reasonably be understood to coincide with the 
popular doctrine so widely held by the church to-day, — that 
a sinner — an heir of perdition to-day may attend a prayer- 
meeting, and in answer to prayer may go home a new born 
man and be an heir of glory to-morrow. And so it appears 
that the new birth or regeneration when considered in the 
light of all that pertains to it, has undergone great changes in 
the manner of its imparting and reception as well as in its 
power as manifested to our outward senses. 

It now occurs to us that it would be proper to refer to the 
fact, that Jesus in his intercourse with his disciples (not with 
the world) repeatedly declared that whatsoever they asked in 
his name believing they should receive, even unto the removal 
of mountains. This assurance it might be said covers the 
idea that the Holy Spirit may be had for the asking. But 
whatever it may have meant for the disciples to whom the 



3° 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



words were addressed, no person lives to-day however believ- 
ing he may be who can get "whatsoever" he may ask for, 
simply for the asking, however earnest his prayers may be. 
For we have never yet met the man who has within and abont 
him every good thing that heart could wish, and they who 
come the nearest to having all coveted things in their posses- 
sion have not obtained it all simply for the asking. When it 
is understood that one man is sufficiently believing to obtain 
whatsoever he' asks for, then other people's faith will be so 
strengthened that we all finally will need to lack for no good 
thing. 

But let us give these words of Christ ("whatsoever ye 
ask," etc.,) any interpretation whatever rather than that they 
teach or point to a way of salvation that would be so conflict- 
ing and so out of harmony with what we see, and know, and 
feel every day of our lives, of God's universal law by which 
he governs in bringing into existence and to maturity all cre- 
ated things in the vegetable as well as in the animal kingdom, 
including man in his physical, moral and spiritual develop- 
ment, a law of slow, and often almost imperceptible and pain- 
ful growth ; a law that requires a working out of your own 
salvation ; and this law is nowhere more fully exemplified 
and taught than in the life and words of Jesus, in all of 
which the careful reader cannot fail to discover one continual 
rebuke of the idea that God's favor may be invoked or obtain- 
ed through anything pertaining to incantations or legerdemain, 
or getting into conditions of mind or feeling of a mesmeric 
nature, or of getting into any condition whatever excepting a 
condition of righteous living, a condition of self-forgetfulness 
and taking up of the cross of self-denial and following and im- 
itating him so far as we in our human weakness are able. 
True holiness of heart is not to be obtained by lying supinely 
on our backs and asking God to open the windows of heaven 
and pouring it down upon us. We of the church must take 
heed lest while we sit in comfortable pews drinking at the 
fountain of sentimental and emotional religion the good Sa- 
maritan outside going upon his errands of mercy, binding up 
the wounds of the unfortunate, feeding the hungry and help- 



THE NEW BIRTH RECONSIDERED. 



3 1 



ing the widow and fatherless, will finally get into the kingdom 
before us. 

For the mainspring of that man's doing is love and com- 
passion, he is being born again by working out his own salva- 
tion, he is receiving the Holy Spirit by making his own spirit 
holy and yet is as unconscious of it, as he is unconscious of 
whence the wind cometh and whither it goeth. 

Having now considered the manner of the descending, the 
coming or the bestowing of the Spirit and found a striking 
dissimilarity of demonstration between ancient and modern 
time, so far as we are able to judge from the evidence at our 
command, without doubting however that to be born again, 
to be converted, is one and the same thing in all ages of the 
world when rightly understood ; let us now brief! v consider 
what conditions are necessary in the individual in order to be- 
come a fit temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 
What do we learn from the Bible in relation to it, and how 
does it correspond with the preaching and practice of to-day ? 
First how was it with the disciples ? If they were converted 
when Tesus first bade them to follow him, one from sitting - at 
the receipt of custom, and others from their occupation as 
fishermen, there was no preparation on their part by way of 
meditation, or prayer or self-examination in any way or man- 
ner ; the same is also true presuming they were converted 
when they were endowed with power to heal diseases and 
cast out devils ; when Jesus breathed upon them and said re- 
ceive ye the Holy Spirit ; also when on the day of Pentecost 
the Spirit came upon them with such power, thev were evi- 
dently in the same moral, mental and physical condition that 
they were in for an indefinite period before and after. And 
the three thousand souls that were baptized and added to the 
company of believers on that same day of Pentecost had but 
a short time indeed to pass through any routine of formalism 
in order to be received into full fellowship with the disciples. 

The conversion of St. Paul has always been regarded as a 
most remarkable conversion. Remarkable indeed, in that he 
was so suddenly and so thoroughly converted from a hater 



3 2 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



and persecutor of Christianity, to a lover and a most zealous 
preacher of Christianity. 

And how was this wonderful conversion brought about? 
He was not convinced that he was pursuing a wrong and 
wicked life, by way of prayer and meditation, but a voice 
from heaven told him so, and the Lord emphasized the truth 
of it in a manner not to be misunderstood, by striking him 
with blindness. He now resorts to prayer, as millions have 
done to their profit, when brought to grief through calamity, 
and remorse for then* sins. ' 

It is not at all surprising that under the circumstances he 
had no desire for food for three days. What he prayed for 
we shall never know, but from his passed life, his education 
and his limited knowledge of the principles of Christianity, we 
have no reason to believe that the burden of his prayer was 
that he might be saved from hell and go to heaven through 
the atoning blood of Christ. 

We find but little in Paul's conversion that is parallel with 
modern conversion. Paul's experience throughout partakes 
of the supernatural, from the arrest of his career to the inspira- 
tion of Ananias through whose mediumship he was restored 
to sight and received the Holy Ghost. If we have any to-day 
who are inspired to act the part of Ananias they are as rare 
as angel's visits. Unlike modern converts there is no evi- 
dence that Paul made much account of relating his experi- 
ence and telling of the joys of believing and of an inward 
peace, but he went about his Master's business. 

We trust that enough has already been called to mind to 
give a correct idea as to the requisite condition, — mental or 
otherwise, — to which a person must be brought in order to be 
a fit subject for conversion in apostolic time. And there is 
one most conspicuous fact, which the reader cannot fail to no- 
tice, and that is the entire absence of all prescribed method or 
formula. To be a fit dwelling place for the Holy Spirit was 
in those days just as simple as it is to suspend all opposition 
either open or covert to the principles of Christianity and to 
yield one's self to a ready and hearty compliance to everv 
known christian duty. 



THE NEW BIRTH RECONSIDERED. 



33 



But we modems have found other ways to climb heaven- 
ward. We have formulas. Different churches may vary in 
formula as has also the same church in different periods of its 
history. But formulas we have which it would be hard to 
trace to any scriptural authority. 

Millions of would-be christians have been hindered and 
troubled by being told by the experienced ones, who know, 
that they must first feel their need of Christ, that one cannot 
believe in Christ in a right and saving manner until he feels 
himself to be a lost, wretched being. It is not enough to 
i-Tzcwthis; you must feel it. Where within the lids of the 
Bible do we find such doctrine as this ? Where ? we ask 
•again. The echo answers. Where ? Knowing the position 
we take to be impregnable we charge the doctrine to be 
unscriptural, that it is but an innovation of men and only that, 
and so pass it by. 

Again, modern tradition as taught by modern Elders still 
further complicates the mind of the sinner by telling him 
14 'That Christ is able and willing to save him, and to save him 
now, and that he must cast himself unreservedly on his mercy 
and trust in him alone for salvation." This implies we have 
been told that w T e must renounce all expectation of saving our- 
selves ; that no works of love or duties performed will help us 
in the least, that we have done too much in that way already. 
"Just stop doing and begin to trust Christ to do it all, and we 
are safe." Well, if all this is true in the sight of heaven, we 
shall never cease to wonder that Christ failed during his 
thirty-three years of earthly pilgrimage to reveal to any man 
such priceless information so it should be handed down from 
his own lips that it is not doing but yielding and trusting 
to him to do for us all that is necessary to secure our highest 
good. 

And if such are the conditions of salvation we cannot 
escape the conclusion, that much of the language of Christ as 
handed down to us is fearfully misleading. 

Let one illustration for the present suffice. Luke xiv, 13- 
14, " But when thou makest a feast call the poor, the maimed. 



34 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



the lame, the blind : And thou shalt be blessed ; for they can- 
not recompense thee ; for thou shalt be recompensed at the 
resurrection of the just." 

Now had a modern Divine stood by and heard these words, 
he would have felt in duty bound to have rebuked the Master 
with words like these : Not so Lord ; for this man has done 
too much already in the way of feeding the poor ; you should 
tell him to just stop doing and trust you to do all and he will 
be safe ! 

Not that the writer would insinuate that the church fails to< 
inculcate in a general way principles of benevolence and good 
works ; nor that the world is not indebted to her more than to 
any other organization for what has been accomplished in this 
direction. But the preaching and practice of the church in a 
general way is far better than its preaching in upholding a 
plan of salvation that has been formulated and given to the 
world by men without the authority or sanction of the Divine 
Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. At least so it seems to the 
writer after giving the matter as profound study and investi- 
gation as power of mind and circumstances would permit ; 
fully realizing the gravity of the subject under consideration , 
and the awful responsibility resting upon one who meddles 
with a matter of such solemn import. 

But we must not forget that we are considering the matter 
of the preparation a person must make, or the condition he 
must be in in order to receive the Spirit, or to be born again, 
as taught in our day, and as compared with apostolic time. 
In regard to early time we have been unable to discover any- 
thing like a given plan or method or course to be pursued. 

In our time we have been told in answer to the question : 
What shall I do to be saved ? Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ. And to believe is substantially to have enkindled 
within yourself a feeling that you are a lost, wretched being, 
not merely to know, or feel in some degree that you are a 
poor guilty sinner, for thousands have felt this much and per- 
ished ; but you must feel alarmed as you would if a murder- 
er held you in his grasp. The next demand upon your faith 



THE NEW BIRTH RECONSIDERED. 



35 



is to believe that Christ is able and willing to save you, and 
just cast yourself upon his mercy and trust in him alone for 
salvation. 

To express the same idea in another form ; if / chance to 
be a man inclined to accept whatever is told me as being 
true without much questioning, though I may be a mere 
nobody in society, there are many chances that the Lord 
will grant me the priceless premium of salvation for my 
credulity ; while my brother stands but few chances of at- 
taining to this most desirable end, by reason of his being a 
differently constituted man ; one who cannot accept the sayso 
of anybody without evidence of the validity of the demand 
made upon his credulity and although he gives the matter that 
honest and prayerful attention its importance demands he 
finds inconsistencies that are impossible for him to reconcile. 
He cannot believe. He cannot make himself believe that he 
does believe, and God knows he does not believe ; and so he 
is doomed to miss of heaven because God saw fit to endow 
him with what would be regarded as superior intellectual 
qualities in any and all other relations except in connection 
with this plan of salvation. He must be banished from the 
presence of the Lord, although unlike myself he has been a 
somebody in society and has given many a cup of cold water 
unto the least as well as unto the greatest of the Lord's disci- 
ples. 

And now a word as to the supernatural experience that is 
supposed to be developed or wrought in the man who has 
been born again through faith, — a faith that can, first, enable 
him to feel himself lost ; and secondly, a faith whereby he 
feels himself saved. Has he now the gift of healing imparted 
to him ? Is he enabled to work miracles by the same Spirit ? 
Does he now become a prophet, or a discerner of Spirits? 
Can he now speak or interpret other tongues as never before? 
No, he can do nothing of the kind. Such gifts are not be- 
stowed as in former time. All of the supernatural that is 
looked for or expected in the converted to-day is that which is 
experienced in the feelings or emotions ; though of course a 
more Godly and devotional life is expected to follow ; and we 



56 



REVOLUTION f OR THE CHURCHES 



believe that in some instances it is thought that some special 
change of heart is wrought in regard to some besetting sin or 
passion. 

In regard to all this, heaven forbid that we should be un- 
derstood as arraying ourselves against these claims, or that we 
brand the idea of the supernatural in this connection as being 
all a delusion ; this would be assuming more responsibility 
than we have any inclination to take ; vet honesty and truth- 
fulness compels the confession that the defences of this 
doctrine, as presented to our mind, have vulnerable points 
which are more easily attacked than defended ; and it appears 
to us to be highly important that the church should fully real- 
ize there is a great bodv of silent but intelligent and thinking 
people who find serious obstacles in the way of accepting the 
idea of any supernatural element at all in what passes for 
conversion at the present day ; and still greater obstacles in the 
way of believing that a wise and just God should decree the 
everlasting destiny of his creatures upon so slight distinguishing- 
marks as they are able to discern between the saved and the 
unsaved, or between the sinner before he was saved and the 
same man in after years. 

If a miracle is performed upon which such mighty inter- 
ests depend, it would seem there should be that about it 
which could not be easily accounted for on natural principles. 
But how does it appear to the man who calmly looks upon 
this phenomena. He knows from his own observation that 
when a person feels himself to be hopelessly lost and ruined 
the despair of his soul is such that he is at once the most 
wretched and pitiable man in the world, and it matters not 
from what fear this lost condition arises, whether it pertains to 
matters temporal or eternal, he is in distress of mind, and to 
be in this distress of mind is the first requisite to attain in 
order to be spiritually saved according to the modern formula ; 
but he who looks on sees nothing in all this that is at all out 
of accord with the common course of nature, — he sees no 
supernatural phenomena thus far. Second stage, "Just stop 
doing and believe that Christ is able and willing to save you,, 
cast yourself unreservedly upon his mercy, trust him to do all 



THE NEW BIRTH RECONSIDERED. 



37 



and you are safe." Thousands have been able to carry out 
this formula to the letter, and when the last stage has been 
reached, such a burden has been lifted from their soul that 
they have been filled with joy unspeakable, and they experi- 
ence such a flood of emotion that they are led to exclaim, "I 
know that I have been converted," and "If this is only excite- 
ment blessed be God for the excitement." Yet the philosoph- 
ical looker on fails to discover in this any trace of the super- 
natural ; he sees in this emotion nothing but a natural result 
from a natural cause, or law of our being.* He reasons thus. 
It would be a singular sort of a being indeed who would not 
feel very much better when assured that he has been rescued 
from certain destruction ; and whereas, "Whatsoever a man 
thinketh so is he." It matters not whether the impending 
danger is real or imaginary, this also holds good in regard 
to the supposed rescue, but the fact, that a person believes and 
feels that he has been rescued from danger does not neces- 
sarily prove the truth of his supposition. Again the candid 
observer regards it as being reasonable to expect that a person 
who has been blessed with a supernatural change of heart 
that in itself alone secures to him such a priceless boon as 
eternal life there should be that about him under any and all 
circumstances which would show him to be a different and a 
better man than the unregenerate around him, or at least 
he is a better man himself than he was known to be before, 
and that in himself there should be marked characteristics 
all through life that are spontaneous, — that spring from a new 
born internal impulse, — that are not the result of self control 
or effort on his Own part. It is like this. While every can- 
did man will concede that as a rule those who are supposed to 
be converted do, for a time at least, lead a better life ; it is 
also true that as a rule drunkards lead a better life after sign- 

o 

ing the pledge, yet with no claim in their case of any super- 
natural aid ;■ but having taken the obligation their sense of 
honor and self respect stimulates them to a degree of self con- 
trol that enables them to keep their pledge ; the philosophical 
observer expects to see something, or at least thinks it reason- 
able to expect to see something in the supernaturally converted 



3§ 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



that is deeper and broader and diviner than that which is seen 
in the reformed drunkard, — that is all. 

As to how near the experienced ones come up to the 
standard which it is thought might reasonably be expected of 
them, if the reader is a person of rriature years, if you have 
been brought considerably in contact with your fellowmen of 
different pretensions and belief, and of different natural en- 
dowments and propensities, if you have cultivated the habit 
of observation and made a little study of human nature, you 
are amply qualified to form your own conclusions without the 
aid of the writer. And if you are one who has passed 
through this experience, you have an excellent test within 
yourself. Did you ever have a besetting sin ? a quick temper, 
a proneness to swear, or to lie, or to cheat? Now when your 
attention was first absorbed in religion and you had found the 
peace of mind you sought, if ever in life you thought you 
were getting the victory over your besetting sin it was then. 
But if you are like the most of mankind, the time soon came 
when you found yourself still an inhabitant of this terrestrial 
sphere and stern duty to yourself and mankind compelled you 
to turn your thoughts from inward, outward, and your eyes 
from skyward, earthward, and while being continually engag- 
ed in the conflict with "the world, the flesh and the devil," 
you either have or have not found your besetting sin domineer- 
ing over you as of old to just the degree that you are thrown 
off your guard and have failed in your own strength to 
keep your feet from slipping, — you are either favored with 
Divine help or like others and like yourself of old depend 
upon self help. These are questions for your own considera- 
tion, and whatever your conclusions, and in whatever light 
vou may regard it, you may as well frankly admit that they 
who observe your daily walk and conversation are quite excus- 
able if they fail to discover in you through the lapse of years 
any very convincing evidence that you are much controlled, or 
restrained by a supernatural power. 

There is another obstacle which stands in the way of the 
acceptance of the reality of a supernatural change of heart by 
cool observers. To all outward appearance there is a very 



THE NEW BIRTH RECONSIDERED. 



39 



marked decrease of power in the manifestations of the Spirit 
as time rolls on especially among our most enlightened and 
cultivated people. And this diminution of power seems to 
keep pace with man's changing views of God's attitude toward 
a sinful world ; that is as man looks less upon God as a con- 
suming fire, and more upon him as a God of love, mercy and 
justice, and as the " world's people" look upon their lost con- 
dition with less of terror and fearfulness, when they come to 
seriously and publicly take hold of the christian life, we see 
less and less of that long season of self-examination and dis- 
tress of mind, less agonizing over their lost condition, which 
is soon followed with baptism and union with the church 
with — (what the critic would say might naturally be expect- 
ed) less and less of that ebullition of feeling which in former 
time had vent through shouting, and through telling the world 
of the joys of salvation. Should it be urged that there are 
yet old-fashioned conversions, the critic would inquire if the 
converted were not possessed of an old-fashioned terror of 
God. 

There are still good deacons who tell us there are but 
few genuine conversions to-day, compared with former time • 
and it is not surprising that those who have mingled with 
revivals of the past and contrast those scenes that made such 
vivid impression upon them in the tender years of their lives, 
it is not surprising they should feel there has been a degen- 
eracy, witnessing as they do churches which bear the same 
name and whose creeds are professedly unchanged dur- 
ing all these years receiving members whose conversion, 
comparatively speaking, is so easily and quietly brought to 
pass to-day ; for persons are now received who make very 
little pretension and manifest very little evidence of any super- 
natural change of heart. If one can only be persuaded to 
rise for prayers and give public expression of mind manifest- 
ing an interest in Christianity, is getting to be about all that 
is required to satisfy the church that one has passed from 
death unto life, as seems to be indicated by the readiness 
they are received as members of the church in good standing. 
Is it surprising that men who believe in honesty, sincerity and 



4° 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



consistency, hold aloof from the church when they see such a 
contradiction between the preaching and practice of the 
church which is supposed to be the embodiment of honesty, 
sincerity and consistency ? If there is any consistency in this 
let those who are responsible for it arise and explain how a 
church can consistently tolerate the public heralding from the 
pulpit that the power of the Spirit in regenerating men is the 
mightiest power in the universe, and that to be fit for the 
kingdom of heaven one must experience a change wrought by 
this supernatural power ; and then in private, tell the appli- 
cant for membership who honestly confesses he has no experi- 
ence to relate, that need not make any difference, they would 
gladly receive him all the same.' 

If there is any explanation that will make all this to 
appear consistent it is high time it was well and thor- 
oughly presented. Until then thoughtful men who have no 
experience to relate will be slow to unite with a church that 
professedly hold that none are fit for the kingdom without 
experiencing what they know they never have experienced. 
While at the same time if we would openly and frankly re- 
ceive them as the Lord Jesus received his disciples and fol- 
lowers, simply because they believed in him as a divine 
teacher and wished to learn of him and follow and obey him, 
then might those around us of a reverent turn of mind and 
who desire to aid in extending the cause of Christianity unite 
with us and still preserve their self-respect, and not feel they 
are stultifying and belittling themselves or dishonoring the 
christian religion by practically saying they have had an 
experience which they know they have not. 

In view of these things there can be but one conclusion in 
regard to our duty, and that is, we are called upon by all 
that is good and pure, to do one of two things, either attend 
to this matter and demonstrate to the world there is in- 
deed a power in modern christian experience that does a 
work of regeneration sufficiently marked and real as to bear 
some proportion to the importance that is attached to it, — 
either this, or as earnest and honest workers in the Lord's 
vineyard let us go about our Master's business by making use 



THE NEW BIRTH RECONSIDERED. 



of means and methods suggested by the present stage of man's 
higher development in this a more enlightened age of the 
world. And if the latter be the final alternative, we may rest 
assured that a new departure in accordance with the line we 
have indicated may be taken without diminishing our respect 
and reverence for the Bible as an inspired book one jot or 
tittle. For God in this same Sacred Volume, — through the 
mtdiumship of his servant Paul, has foretold that miraculous 
gifts would be done away. (I Cor. xiii, 8.) That love never 
faileth, prophecies they shall fail ; tongues they shall cease 
and knowledge it shall vanish away. In our family Bible 
published by the American Tract Society, this verse is thus 
explained. " Never faileth ; it (love) will continue to eter- 
nity ; while the gifts of foretelling future events, or of miracu- 
lously speaking with tongues, or by inspiration understanding 
and communicating divine truth, will soon pass away as no 
longer necessary." Further comment is uncalled for. Should 
the objection be raised that no special mention is made that 
the miracle of conversion and regeneration would ever cease 
and be done away, the objector would be asked to first point 
to some example in Paul's day of regeneration, the accom- 
plishment of which and the effects thereof that are identical, 
or very nearly so, with what is accomplished and effected in 
those who are regarded as having been supernaturally con- 
verted in our day. If nothing of the kind existed, nothing of 
the kind could be done away. But it is very clear to our 
mind that miracles were never intended as an end, but only 
as a means to an end, and as the opinion that they were final- 
ly to be done away is sustained by such a cloud of witnesses 
as the leading spirits in the Evangelical Churches, and by Paul 
himself while living in the midst of diverse and wonderful 
gifts, it would seem that -if the church in its wisdom should 
see fit to ignore the idea of the supernatural in christian exper- 
ience as a ?iecessity, we still could have an undiminished 
reverence for the Bible as the word of God. Are not the 
words of Paul full of significance, when he says, "covert the 
best gifts," and with the next breath, "But behold, I show 
you a more excellent way." Then as men and women 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



accountable to God for our stewardship let us inquire if there? 
is not a more excellent way than to base our hope of heavera 
upon what there may be of the supernatural in our christians 
experience. 

At the same time consider well that which Paul sets forth 
as being a more excellent way. (ist Cor. xiii r 1-8.) Though 
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not: 
love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 
And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries* 
and all knowledge \ and if I have all faith so as to remove 
mountains and have not love I am nothing. And if I bestow 
all my goods to feed the poor and if I give my body to be 
burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love 
suffers long and is kind - f love envieth not love vaunteth not 
itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seek- 
eth not its own,, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil 
rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth 
beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, en- 
dureth all things. Love never faileth ; but whether there be 
prophecies they shall be done away; — etc. How can words, 
better express the truth that the central idea, the very soul, the- 
life and the all of Christianity is love. And if all gifts and 
graces including faith that could remove mountains, count for 
nothing without love, it seems to be a fair and just conclusion 
that such gifts, and all religious form and ceremony are onlv 
helpful and instrumental in promoting love in the hearts of 
men. We need not deny or doubt that there are those to-day 
who are influenced more or less according to their tempera- 
ment by the supernatural, and furthermore we -may "covert 
the best gifts." But to insist upon it that to attain to such 
experiences is essential to Christian living and to our final 
acceptance with God T is to insist upon that which is neither 
sustained by the harvest of converts we are gathering to-day 
from such sowing ; nor from the whole tenor of the life and 
teaching of our Lord and Master. For Christ did not rebuke 
the Saddusees and Pharisees for resting their hope of God's 
favor in the fact that they had "Abraham to their Father," 
expecting that his followers would ever become content with 



THE NEW BIRTH RECONSIDERED. 



43 



Testing their hope of God's favor by drawing themselves into 
the comfortable shell of past experience, thinking thereby to 
•cover a multitude of sins past, present and future. 

If Paul after his remarkable experience found it necessary 
.-as he declares to keep his body under, and bring it in subjec- 
tion ; lest that by any means while he had preached to others 
he himself should be a castaway ; what shall we say of that 
assurance that would be content to rest in what passes for 
supernatural conversion to-day. 

Now we have the presumption to conclude that the reader 
is ready to admit that we have thus far presented some ideas 
that are worthy of consideration. Yet it is more than likely 
that you are not fully persuaded to encourage any new depar- 
ture that claims to be an advance or an improvement upon 
the ways and teachings of the fathers. You may be asking 
yourself, or perhaps are wishing to ask if the writer presumes 
that the sinner has nothing to do but to mend his ways and 
behave himself in order to be included among the saved in the 
great plan of salvation. You have been taught that without 
the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin ; that under 
the old dispensation the sinner had a part himself to do in the 
shedding of blood in the sacrificial service ; and you have 
been further taught that the shedding of blood in primitive 
time was only typical of the blood of Christ, and that his 
blood having now been shed, we must in order to secure its 
blessings accept of this atonement by faith,— or in some way 
or other that was never made intelligible to you ; but " some* 
how, some way and somewhere," it must be accepted of you 
in order to be saved. 

This brings us to the consideration of another phase of the 
christian religion, which we will call part second. 

And if the reader has never harbored any doubt of the 
validity or soundness of the doctrine that the blood of the Son 
and his blood alone could reconcile the Father with a sinful 
world, we wish vou might before following us further, take 
your Bible and Concordance and thoroughly search for your- 
self with your mind unbiased by preconceived ideas, and see 
if vou can, — first,— fmd one scrap of evidence that the an- 



44 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



cient Jewish worshipers regarded the blood that was shed 
upon the altar by their priests as being typical of a great 
sacrifice that was to be offered for the sins of the world. 
And secondly, — we would have you carefully search for evi- 
dence that Christ himself regarded such sacrificial blood as 
being typical of his own blood. And further we would have 
you consider whether or not we are justified when we take a 
comprehensive view of his life and words as a whole, to ac- 
cept the doctrine that the grand end and aim of his mission 
was to shed his blood, and through his blood make it honor- 
able for the Father to save believing sinners. But what the 
apostles had to say of sacrificial blood, in their efforts to turn 
men away from the burdensome thraldom of the ceremonial 
law, and get them one step higher upon a spiritual plane of 
heart service, we would have you let alone for the present. 

If you are persuaded to do this much, we shall expect that 
sufficient interest will be aroused so that you will be willing 
to go on with us while we consider this doctrine which 
certainly is a matter of deep interest considering the impor- 
tance that has been attached to it as a fundamental principle 
of Christianity. 



PART SECOND. 



The doctri?ie of Christ's Atonement reconsidered. — As 
most popula?'ly taught, is not this doctrine becoming 
distasteful and repulsive to thoughtful men? — If so. 
not Christ, but fallible men are responsible. — The 
life and death of Christ was to save men, but in a 
way consiste7tt and rational. — Old Testament support 
of the poptilar faith investigated and its weakness 
exposed. 



Christ's Atonement Reconsidered. 

We will first consider one by one the few expressions that 
are recorded by the four Evangelists as coming from the lips 
of Jesus that seem to sustain the idea that the object of his 
mission was to shed his blood for the remission of the sins of 
the world. 

The word ransom occurs but rarely in the old testament, 
and Christ makes use of it but once, (which fact of itself 
would seem to be remarkable if indeed his mission was to 
ransom the world through his blood.) The shortest defini- 
tion of the word would seem to be,— to purchase with a price. 
Yet in the Bible it does not always seem to have that full 
and direct significance when viewed in the light of the con- 
text as the same word would have if used in simple modern 
English. For example: Exod. xxx, 11-13, And the Lord 
spake unto Moses saying, "When thou takest the sum of the 
children of Israel after their number then shalt thou give 



4 6 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord when thou 
numberest them, — This shall they give every one that passeth 
among them that are numbered one half a shekel ;" which in 
our money would have a value of about 25 cts. and under- 
stood in a literal sense, and regarding a ransomed soul as 
modern people do, salvation would indeed be as nearly free 
as one could ask for. But evidently in this instance at least 
the ransomed soul had not purchased exemption from the 
consequences of all his sins. Again Jeremiah xxxi, 10-11, — 
* k Hear the word of the Lord O, ye nations, and declare it in 
the isles afar off and say, He that scattered Israel will gather 
him, and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock. For the 
Lord hath redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand 
of him that was stronger than he." 

Now it cannot be that there is any intention here of con- 
veying the idea that the Lord had ransomed Israel by paying 
a price to their oppressors, or by the shedding of blood as a 
sacrifice in any form whatever, but as a simple matter of fact, 
God, by his direction and through his overruling providence 
helped Israel out of distress, but not without Israel's people 
helping themselves. Let these examples of the manner in 
which the word ransom is used in the Bible suffice to illus- 
trate the fact, that a sacrifice, or the paying of a price to satis- 
fy a demand is not always implied, and thus a way is pre- 
pared to consider intelligently the only expression of Christ in 
which the word ransom occurs. And this expression occurs 
in the 20th chapter of Matt. 28th verse. "Even as the son of 
man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to 
give his life a ransom for many." Most certainly to under- 
stand the giving of his life a ransom, as a purchase price to 
satisfy a demand is uncalled for. A more rational view, is to 
understand these words to convey a meaning similar to that 
just referred to in the 31st chapter of Jeremiah, similar in that 
it should not be understood in a literal sense. And we make 
bold to say that no one would ever think of applying a literal 
interpretation to these words, if no other influence was 
brought to bear aside from a study of the life and words of 
Christ himself ; for the giving of his life a ransom for many 



CHRIST S ATONEMENT RECONSIDERED. 



47 



was abundantl} fulfilled aside from the shedding of his blood 
upon the cross. For so unlike ordinary leaders of men Jesus 
ignored all worldly wealth, honor and power, instead of 
being ministered unto, was constantly ministering to the 
wants of others, and by his example of patient endurance, 
and forgiving spirit prepared the world to receive his gospel 
of love. Is it not in the best of harmony with scriptural 
usage of language to say of such a voluntary life led by one 
possessed with all power that it was given a ransom for many ? 
At the same time leaving out the idea that it was all accom- 
plished on the cross, and that, "by his blood he purchased 
me." And in this connection it is a fact worthy of notice 
that the expression referred to (Matt, xx, 23) like other scat- 
tered expressions of Jesus where similar words occur, were 
never spoken to the multitude but only in private with the 
disciples, though in this instance the mother of Zebedee's 
children was present. Now if to shed his blood as an atone- 
ment for the sins of the world, was the real object of his 
mission, why did he not declare it to the world instead of 
telling the multitude substantially that the Almighty was not 
pleased with the offering of sacrifice. 

For in the presence of many publicans and sinners he 
told the criticising Pharisees (Matt, ix, 13) "Go ye and learn 
what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.''' 
In other words, God is pleased with a merciful disposition, 
manifesting itself in doing good to the needy, but is indiffer- 
ent to the external ceremony of sacrifice, in which with other 
like observances lay all the religion of the scribes and Phari- 
sees. Again when one of the scribes declared (Matt, xii, 33) 
"That to love the Lord with all the heart, mind and strength, 
and to love his neighbor as himself is more than all whole 
burnt offerings and sacrifices. Jesus seeing that he answered 
discretely, said unto him thou art not far from the kingdom of 
God," without an intimation that to believe in him as an 
atoning sacrifice was more than all things else ; or it would 
aid one jot or tittle in attaining to a full admission into the 
kingdom of God. That he should die, that it was expedient 
that he should go away, he repeatedly declares. But wherein 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



and for what reason was it expedient that he should die ? Let 
him speak for himself ; he gives this reason for the expediency 
of his death (John xvi, 17) "Nevertheless I tell you the 
truth : it is expedient for you that I go away : for if I go not 
away the Co??iforter will not come ; but if I depart I will 
send him unto you." He does not say that he is to go away 
to answer the stern demand of the Father for his blood, or 
that he volunteers the gift of his innocent blood to appease 
the wrath of the Father against a guilty world. But he would 
have his disciples to understand that the gift of the Comforter 
would be better for them than his own continued personal 
presence. Again (John xii, 23-33) "The hour is come that 
the son of man should be glorified." How glorified? "Ex- 
cept a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth 
alone." Yes. And in the springing to life again, in the 
growth of the plant and in the ripened grain a richer and full- 
er existence begins anew : and so it would be in his own death, 
as well as in the death of all the righteous, "if it die it bring- 
eth forth much fruit." "He that loveth his life (this life) 
shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life in this world shall 
keep it unto life eternal." That is not keeping one's life unto 
life eternal through faith in the blood of the innocent. And 
the 26th verse instead of supporting the doctrine of Christ as 
our sacrifice, conveys an idea quite to the contrary. "If any 
man serve me let him follow me ; and where I am there shall 
my servant be also ; if any man se?'ve me, him will my Father 
honor." Service is the requisite for heavenly honors. Pass- 
ing over the next five verses which seem to have but little 
direct bearing upon the doctrine under consideration we come 
to the 32d verse. — "And I if I be lifted up will draw all 
men unto me." This expression has been regarded as being 
equivolent to saying : if I be lifted up on the cross as a sacri- 
fice for sin. Yet is comes far short of any such positive asser- 
tion ; if in fact such was the intended meaning of these 
words, it can never be regarded as being anything more than 
an obscure intimation. While we need not question the truth 
of John's statement (33d verse) "This he said signifying what 
death he should die," that it was really to be an ignominious 



CHRIST S ATONEMENT RECONSIDERED. 



49 



death on the cross. But the idea that his death would draw 
all men unto him through the propitiating power of his blood 
as an atonement for sins, cannot be drawn from the words of 
Christ, such a deduction seems well nigh impossible, and most 
certainly falls far short of being a necessary conclusion, and is 
only tenable by accepting the writings of the apostles written 
thirty years after as infallible, and what we have been taught 
by men as God's truth. Viewed in this light, and in this light 
alone, it might reasonably be supposed that the way that Christ 
would draw all men unto him would be through their faith in 
the merits of his atoning blood. 

But let your mind be fixed upon the text and context 
alone. And where and how do you get an expression to the 
■effect, that all men would be drawn unto him as a propitiation 
for their sins ? He was to be glorified as a corn of wheat 
that falleth into the ground by a more glorious existence. He 
does not say if any man will accept of me as an atoning sac- 
rifice him will my Father honor, but "if any man serve me 
him will my Father honor." "For this cause came I unto 
this hour." For what cause? To appease the wrath of God 
against a sinful world? He says nothing of the kind. It is 
far more in harmony with Christ himself throughout his 
whole career, — more in harmony with a God of love and 
wisdom, — and by far more in harmony with man's instinctive 
sense of propriety and fitness of things, to regard it as being 
expedient that such a Godlike life, should have a patient, sub- 
missive, Godlike end in order to consummate and intensify 
and impress upon the world the sublimity of the lessons of 
love taught by his words and exemplified by his acts of 
mercy. We reverence Lincoln and Garfield as we never 
should were it not for the tragical and sorrowful circum- 
stances under which their lives were sacrificed upon their 
country's altar. Yet their death did not create it only inten- 
sified our reverence for these men. The death of their assas- 
sins Booth and Guiteau creates within us no reverence neither 
does the death of Judas the betrayer of his Master. But we 
reverence Jesus first for his life and last for his death ; but all 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



in all we reverence him as the only perfect and Divine being 
that ever mingled with men. 

Now a few more words regarding the expression "And I 
if I be lifted up from the earth will draw/' etc., which is re- 
garded as emphatically supporting the doctrine of vicarious- 
suffering. Is it not the most natural and less strained con- 
struction to understand it as first, as referring to the exalted 
and glorified life that awaits him, and secondly, — as referring 
to his earlier acceptance, brought about through his death,, 
(for it was not until he had expired that the centurion and 
they that were with him were lead to exclaim, "truly this, 
was the Son of God.") 

Was not his being lifted up and glorified, also to draw all 
men unto him in another sense,— in the sense of a more 
effective work through his disciples guided by an unseen rath- 
er than by a personally present Master? For by no other 
means could the disciples be lead to comprehend so fully that 
the Messiah's kingdom was not of this world, but was to be a 
reign in the hearts of men. For it was by his unresisting 
submission to the cruelties of an ignominious death, — and by 
his fulfillment of the sign he had promised concerning Jonas 
the prophet, of his being three days and three nights in the 
heart of the earth, — all of which being crowned by the great- 
est miracle of all — Arising from the dead ; that disposed of 
the last shadow of doubt concerning his Divinity : leading 
even doubting Thomas to exclaim, "My Lord and my God." 

And now after his ascension to prepare a place for them 
among the many mansions of the Father they were made 
more steadfast and zealous workers through experiencing the 
fulfillment of the assurance. It is expedient for you that I go 
away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto 
you, but if I depart I will send him unto you. Finally, if 
indeed it is true as is popularly believed, the drawing of all 
men unto him was to be through the offering of himself as a 
propitiatory sacrifice, the world would never have been any 
wiser for it had we depended upon Matthew, Luke or Mark 
for this expression, John being the only one who deemed it 
worthy of record. 



Christ's atonement reconsidered. 



5 1 



But the strongest expression we find that is recorded as the 
words of Jesus that appear to uphold the belief that the mis- 
sion of Christ was to die, that his blood might be an expia- 
tion for the sins of the world, are found in Matt, xxvi, 27-28, 
44 And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, 
saying, Drink ye all of it : for this is my blood of the new 
testament which is shed for many for the remission of sin," 
and are therefore worthy of a careful consideration. Impor- 
tant as these words may be they were uttered in the presence 
of the disciples only, and if the salvation of a dying world 
depended upon the acceptance of a great atoning sacrifice it 
must wait and learn this momentous truth through the apos- 
tles. Mark's record in this connection reads, — "this is my 
blood of the new testament, — or (new revision) blood of the 
covenant which is shed for many," but fails to add for the 
remission of sins. Luke has it thus, "This cup is the new 
testament (or the covenant) in my blood which is shed for 
you " : but just how it is to work for good he does not say. 

Although John devotes five of his twenty-one chapters to 
what transpired and to the sayings of Jesus at this the last 
supper, — (the 13th and 17th chapters inclusive) and consider- 
ing the great importance that has been attributed to his blood 
in the redemption of the world, is it not remarkable, is it not 
surprising, that through all of this narration he should fail to 
make the barest mention of the breaking and blessing of the 
bread, or of the blessing of the cup, or of its being an em- 
blem of his blood to be shed for the remission of sin ? Yet 
so we find it,— that while the doctrine under consideration 
has such a meager support from the words of Christ, John 
fails to even allude to the little that was recorded by the other 
evangelists of which mention has been made, but on the con- 
trary goes on to narrate that which would lead to the belief 
that his mission was to save the world on quite a different 
plan, and that his departure was to serve his purpose in an 
altogether different way or ways, than as a sacrifice for sin. 
John tells us that Jesus took a towel and girded himself and 
washed his disciples' feet, thus teaching them humility, and 
that in humble service prompted by love there is true great- 



5- 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



ness. Again, "If ye love me," — What, believe? No., 
"keep my commandments." Again, "A new command- 
ment give I unto you." What, anything about vicarious 
suffering? No, love one another. But he was about to suffer 
and die for a sin cursed world. What does he say about it? 
He says he is about to be "glorified," that in his "father's 
house are many mansions," that "I go to prepare a place for 
you." 

He would have them to understand that his cause and 
kingdom would be advanced by reason of his departure. 
"Verily, verily I say unto you he that believeth in me the 
works which I do, shall he do also ; and greater works than 
these shall he do;" (That is greater good would result) 
'•'•because I go unto the Father" And were not the works 
of the apostles greater in number, extent and in influence? 
He is going away, yet lie is not going away, or rather he is 
coining again and is to be continually present with them as 
the Comforter and through the Spirit, — thus John xiv, 28,, 
' ' Ye have heard how I said unto you I go away and come 
again unto you. If you love me ye would rejoice, because I 
said I go unto the Father for my Father is greater than I." 
Can any one suppose that this rejoicing would be because of 
any vicarious virtue there would be in the death of Christ? 
The words of the 4th verse of the 17th- chapter of John are 
worthy of consideration in this connection. "I have glori- 
fied thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou 
gavest me to do" (New Revision) " I glorified thee on the 
earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to 
do." Should we hear a son say to his father I have finished 
or completed the work which you gave me to do, we would 
suppose as a matter of course that he had reference to some 
work that required considerable time and labor to accomplish, 
but to suppose that he had reference to anything that had any 
sort of resemblance to passively submitting to be put to death, 
would be the last conclusion to which we could arrive. Yet 
it is the popular belief that to die was the work of Christ. 
But the reading of this whole chapter conveys quite a differ- 
ent impression. In the 18th verse referring to his disciples. 



CHRIST S ATONEMENT RECONSIDERED. 



53 



Jesus says "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so 
have I also sent them into the world." The words "even so 
have I also," implies a very close similarity, and puts the 
meaning of this verse beyond question : and that is that the 
mission of Christ and of his disciples was identically the 
same purpose to be accomplished in the same way. And so 
it proved : their lives were parallel, and their death by mar- 
tyrdom was the same, with only one exception. Consequent- 
ly to maintain that on the one hand death was an expiation for 
sin, and on the other hand death had no particular significance, 
is to contradict a very plain statement of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
But if we understand the mission of both Christ and his disci- 
ples to have been " To give light to them that sat in darkness 
and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet in the way 
of peace," there is no contradiction, and the words of Christ 
harmonize not only with the fadts as we understand them but 
with man's instinctive feelings in regard to this matter. 

But there was something of more than ordinary interest in 
this, our Lord's last feast of the passover ; for Jesus says, 
"with desire have I desired to eat this passover with you be- 
fore I suffer." He was about to leave them, — would they 
soon forget him, and the great work entrusted to them to be 
carried forward be neglected ? He would require something 
of them to do in remembrance of him. Important events 
were commemorated among the Jewish people by way of 
some visible object. — a pillar perhaps — that was erected for 
that purpose, or by way of an anniversary feast, of which 
" the passover " was a notable example. A fitting occasion 
indeed for the institution of a supper in commemoration of 
himself. And nothing short of superhuman insight and fore- 
thought could have said so much in so few words or made 
such lasting impressions in so simple a manner. How re- 
markably appropriate ! While commemorating an important 
event in the history of their people, Jesus took the cup and 
blessed it and said take this and drink it among yourselves. 
And he took bread and gave thanks and break it gave unto 
them, saying, this is my body which is given for you, this do 
in remembrance of me. 



54 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



And who could be more worthy of remembrance than 
Christ, the mediator of a new covenant between God and 
man ? For as such he has always been regarded by the chris- 
tian world. Paul recognizes this truth most emphatically, as 
is well expressed in the Sth and 9th chapters of Hebrews. 
But in the first century of the Christian Era, Paul had a differ- 
ent work to do for a different people than he would find to-day 
in the nineteenth century. 

He had to begin with the alphabet. He must open up a 
pathway through which a gross and narrow bigotry could be 
enticed to enter and forsake the burdensome formalism and 
bloody sacrificial service of the first covenant ; to gain this one 
point, — to make this one step onward and upward, would be 
enough to accomplish in one generation. With this end in 
view, was it not a happy thought? Was it not an inspired 
thought ? to present Christ and him crucified, — Christ and his 
blood, to be accepted by the sinner, and as being that of 
which the bloody requirements of the first covenant was only 
typical and might now be abandoned forever ? And thus Paul 
with his fellow laborers preached and labored with happy 
results. 

But now since the world has been so thoroughly purged 
from the bloody and burdensome sacrificial service of olden 
time, it would seem to be eminently proper to review the con- 
ditions and requirements of the new covenant that God prom- 
ised to the world through his servant Jeremiah, and let the 
light of the 19th century illuminate the 31st, 33d and 33d 
verses of the 31st chapter or his book. "Behold the days 
come saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according 
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that 
I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of 
Egypt, which my covenant they break although I was a hus- 
band unto them, saith the Lord. But this is the covenant I 
will make with the house of Israel after these days saith the 
Lord. I vj ill put my law in their inward parts, and write 
it in their hearts: and will be their God and they shall be 
my people." As if not satisfied with a simple statement that 



CHRIST'S ATONEMENT RECONSIDERED. 



there was to be a new covenant, and to make it clear that 
there was to be a sharp contrast between the new and the old, 
God makes an emphatic declaration that it was "Not accord- 
ing to the covenant that I made with their fathers." But if 
the death and blood of Christ was to serve a more important 
part in the salvation of the world than his words and exam- 
ple such language would be out of place and misleading, for 
then, if such were the fact, there would be a likeness and a 
similarity between the new and the old covenant. Then if in 
Christ we have the new covenant, and the new was not to be 
according to the old, why should christians make the "pre- 
cious blood of Christ " the burden of their song, when if we 
were to call the life and teachings of Christ a song, its key 
note was love ; its burden was love ; and all the echoes and 
reverberations of that song are love, — love. And that heart 
that is touched and subdued by that love is christian and none 
other. The old covenant was very exacting in outward obser- 
vances and served its purpose of securing a recognition of the 
Supreme Being by a gross and ignorant people who were not 
sufficiently developed to comprehend a higher spiritual law 
written in the heart. But God was preparing the way for a 
more enlightened humanity to "worship him in spirit and in 
truth." And so declared through his servant Jeremiah that 
he would make a new covenant. That he would put his law 
in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. How the 
sentiment of these words blend and harmonize with the senti- 
ment of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Let us compare a few of the expressions of Christ, with 
the sentiment of the promised covenant. "The kingdom of 
God cometh not with observation." "The kingdom of God 
is within you." "God is a Spirit and they that worship him 
must worship him in spirit and in truth." "Go and leam 
what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice." 
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first 
and great commandment, And the second is like unto it, 
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." On these two 
commandments hang all the law and prophets. And now 



56 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



search the four gospels, — study every word and every act of 
Christ, and bring together all that can with any sort of plausi- 
bility be regarded as supporting the supposition that Christ, 
the mediator of the new covenant, was to set up any other 
kingdom than that of a reign in the hearts of men, — that the 
new covenant was to be unlike the old with its offerings and 
sacrifices, in that there was to be a greater offering and sac- 
rifice ; gather what we can of Christ in support of such doc- 
trine, — and then will Christ's law of love upon which hangs 
" all the law and the prophets," stand out like a vast moun- 
tain, before which, redemption through his blood as taught by 
himself will appear only as a passing vapor. For if Christ 
taught anything regarding sacrifice, it was that the sacrifice 
that pleases God, is self-sacrifice for the good of others, and 
to worship him acceptably is to have the law of love written 
in the heart, and to obey it. 

But according to Matthew Jesus did say at that last sup- 
per, " this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed 
for many unto the remission of sins," and we have no reason 
to doubt that he said so ; and we have no more reason to 
suppose that he intended to be understood in a verbal or literal 
sense, than we have to understand him in a literal sense when 
he declares, John vi, 55, " Verily, verily I say unto you, Ex- 
cept ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood 
ye have no life in you." 

When Jesus understood that his disciples regarded this 
declaration as a hard saying, he immediately explained to 
them (63d verse) "It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh 
proflteth nothing, the words that I speak unto you they are 
spirit and they are life." We find this marginal comment 
upon these words in our family Bible, "It was the spiritual, 
not the literal meaning of his words which would profit 
them. The literal eating of his flesh would not profit 
them." So if Jesus had said, Verily, verily I say unto you, 
Except ye partake of and are imbued with the spirit ye have 
heard in my words and seen exemplified in my works, ye 
have no life in you, he would have conveyed the same mean- 
ing only in other words. 



Christ's atonement reconsidered. 



57 



But among the marginal explanations just referred to, it 
••says of " -eating the Jiesh and drinking his blood" t4 not lit- 
erally, but spiritually, as the food and drink of the soul," to 
which we give our hearty assent. But to the assertion, that 
' ' The Saviour has in mind the gift which he is about to make 
on the cross of his flesh and blood for the life of the world," 
We object. We choose rather to accept Christ's own expla- 
nation of his own words, than the authority of any other 
commentator, living or dead ; and when he says, ' 4 It is the 
Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh froflteth nothing" we be- 
lieve it. And his flesh of itself alone could profit nothing by 
being nailed to the cross, just as it could profit nothing by be* 
ing eaten in a literal sense. 

We cannot believe that when Jesus says (John vi, latter 
part of verse 5th) " and the bread which I will give is my 
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world," that he had 
in mind the giving of flesh and blood of such priceless value 
as to be the purchase price of the life of the world, with its 
countless millions of priceless souls,— we cannot believe that 
if this was to be the literal fact, that Jesus would have offered 
as an explanation for the relief of the bewildered minds of his 
disciples ; It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh froflteth 
nothings the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and 
they are truth. 

But we have wandered. At that last supper Jesus was 
instituting an ordinance to be observed in commemoration of 
himself, corresponding with the feast of the passover which 
they were then celebrating : and all of his words and a£ts 
were interwoven with that with which his disciples were 
familiar. Before partaking of the food and wine, the blessing 
thereof by the Master was nothing new, the master of every 
house did the same on that occasion. But the injunction this 
do in remembrance of me was new. He says of the wine. 
This is the blood of the new covenant. The Jewish mind 
was familiar with the manner in which the old covenant was 
instituted. We find it thus recorded in Exodus xxiv, 4-8, 
"And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord (that is, jus re- 
quirements of the Jews his chosen people) and rose up early 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES . 



in the morning and built an altar under the hill, and twelve 
pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent 
young men of the children of Israel which offered burnt offer- 
ings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. 
And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins : and 
half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar, and he took the 
book of the covenant and read it in the audience of the people. 
And they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do and be 
obedient. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the 
people, and said behold the blood of the covenant which the 
Lord hath made with you concerning all his words." Now was 
it not the most natural thing in the world that Jesus, the founder 
of a new covenant, should allude to the founding of the old, 
and say of the cup, ;t This is the blood of the new covenant?" 
And is it fair to presume that Jesus attached to his own blood 
of which the cup was an emblem, any other than a similar 
significance that may be attached to the blood of the old cove- 
nant? And how much importance can be justly attached to 
the blood of the old covenant, what purpose did it serve? 
True, it was the blood of offerings and sacrifice that signified 
expiation for sin, and though of divine appointment, who to- 
day would dare to affirm that they were capable in themselves 
of purifying the soul or atoning for its sins ? Paul describes 
them as "weak and beggarly elements/' They represented 
grace and purity, but they did not impart it. They convinced 
the sinner of his necessity of purification, but they did not 
impart holiness or justification to him. And how could the 
blood of the old covenant that was sprinkled upon the people 
serve any other purpose than that like the twelve pillars built 
by Moses it was designed to solemnize and commemorate by 
way of an impressive ceremony a sacred promise made by the 
people to keep the covenant ? But you say that Jesus said of 
his blood, or of the cup which symbolized it, This is my 
blood which is shed for many for the remission of sin : and so 
he did ; and although no other disciple but Matthew regarded 
the expression as worthy of record, it should have its due 
weight in the consideration of so grave a matter. 

But what was the true significance of these words ? He 



CHRIST'S ATONEMENT RECONSIDERED. 



59 



had just said of the bread that was before him, — "take, eat, 
this is my body," but it was not his body as a matter of fact. 
He had just said of the cup, "this is my blood," but as a 
matter of fact it was not his blood ; he now adds "which is 
shed for many for the remission of sin." And why should we 
single out this expression and accept it as a literal fact that his 
blood, that which the cup typified, was indeed shed for the 
remission of sin? that is, in that narrow and positive sense 
that has been so long and so popularly held. Are christian 
people willing to take the responsibility of telling a sinful 
world that all their sins, past, present and future may all be 
remitted by reason of that blood which was shed on Calvary ? 
that all that remains for them to do is to believe it ? And 
when asked, how do you know ? Can you make any other 
reply than that we take the responsibility of promulgating this 
doctrine because we understand that God offers this, priceless 
premium for our credulity because his Son, who shed that 
blood after devoting three years teaching the world the ways 
of life and salvation by word and by example without one 
solitary allusion to the public, to the world at large, that can 
be construed to support the doctrine that man's eternal well- 
being depends upon the acceptance of an atoning sacrifice 
which he was about to make of himself, yet he did at the 
very last, say, substantially before twelve men, of a cup of 
wine which typified his blood that it was -shed for the remis- 
sion of sin, and one of the twelve recorded it. 

Bearing in mind that we are now dealing with the matter 
as presented by Christ himself, regardless of methods adopted 
by the apostles in presenting Christ in their day to win men 
up to a higher plane. Such in substance is the answer we 
can give to the inquiry, "How do you know?" strengthened 
however with whatever we may regard as being unanswered 
in those fragmentary allusions that have been claimed as sup- 
porting the popular doctrine of vicarious atonement that we 
have already had under consideration. And now assuming 
that it is very, very doubtful if candid, thinking men at the 
present day could ever be brought to believe a great and good 
Creator would ever have sanctioned or forced upon the world 



6o 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



a plan of salvation like that of the popular faith from an- 
other reason than that they supposed Christ declared it i 
and that the apostles echoed it ; — that is 7 reason, and man's- 
ideas of consistency, to-day, if allowed to have its natural 
and unbiased sway could never entertain the thought that the 
God of heaven could devise no other way whereby he could 
be reconciled to the guilty except that he might look down 
from his throne on high with calm serenity upon trickling 
blood drawn from the purest and most innocent being that 
ever walked the green earth, — drawn, not as the blood of the 
dumb creatures was drawn that were brought before the altar 
at the temple service, for they were slain, but not tortured., 
but drawn in such a cruel and revolting manner as only soul- 
less men and demons could devise. 

Assuming this could not be accepted in any other way 
than from the belief that the Bible declares it, we ask you to 
give a little further attention to the last expression we had 
under consideration which fell from the Master's lips at the 
institution of the Lord's supper. That the life of the Lord 
Jesus Christ was given and that his blood was shed for many,, 
we have no disposition to question or doubt, nay, we would 
rather aid in publishing it as a truth to the ends of the earth. 
But we would declare Christ and his words to be a great arch 
on which men may pass over the gulf of sin and death to 
regions where love and righteousness doth reign, and his 
death and resurrection we would declare to be the keystone of 
that arch, indispensable though it may be, yet no more so at 
least than the arch itself. And as the keystone together with 
the whole fabric of an arch may be all of one and the same 
material, so we would tell the world that the end together 
with the beginning and the whole fabric of the life of Christ 
had one grand purpose ; namely, — the inculcation of the great 
truth that the highest conditions of life are to be attained 
through living in accordance with the principles of the sermon 
on the mount, and that the reward of such living is to culmi- 
nate in a glorified immortality. And we would have the 
world to understand that the shedding of the blood of Christ 
for the remission of sin was not an idea, or an act alone of 



Christ's atonement reconsidered. 



61 



itself or a part of a plan of salvation itself separate and dis- 
tinct from certain other parts. We accept it as a truth that 
that blood was shed for the remission of sin, but in no other 
sense than we claim for it as a truth that he became flesh and 
blood for the remission of sin, and that through all his career 
he exerted his influence and power to save mankind from the 
pollution and power of sin. Concerning such expressions as, 
"This is my blood which is shed for many for the remission 
of sins," what sort of faith should we have, and what sort of 
lives should we live if we were called upon to believe and con- 
form to them as a literal and verbal interpretation would de- 
mand? If we are to rely upon blood alone for the remission 
of sin because of such an expression, then must we accept it 
as true that "God is love," and that he has no other part or 
attribute, that he has neither power nor wisdom, for John 
says that " God is love," with no intimation that he is any- 
thing else. 

Jesus dropped such expressions as this, "Think not of 
to-morrow," carry it out to the letter, and the human race 
would soon be brought to a condition below the brute crea- 
tion ; yet properly understood it contains a whole sermon of 
profitable instruction. John, the forerunner of Christ, preach- 
ed the "baptism of repentance for remission of sin." Is it 
not remarkable that he failed to preach Christ and him to be 
crucified for the remission of sin, if indeed his blood was to 
be the all important element in a plan of salvation ? And is 
it not still more remarkable that Jesus after the crucifixion in 
that very last interview with the disciples before his ascension 
as he opened their understanding that they might understand 
the scriptures, — said unto them (Luke xxiv, 46) "Thus it is 
written, and thus it behooved Christ to sutler and to rise from 
the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission 
of sin should be preached in his name among all nations be- 
ginning at Jerusalem :" — remarkable, in that though it behoov- 
ed Christ to suffer the language does not necessarily imply 
that it was vicarious suffering, while he re-echoes the sentiment 
of John the Baptist that repentance is essential to the remis- 
sion of sin. Reader, are you willing to rest your eternal 



62 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



destiny upon the presumption that your sins will be remitted 
by reason of the vicarious suffering of another, without repen- 
tance on your own part ? 

To find where in the Sacred W ritings it is written that it 
behooved Christ to suffer, the marginal reference of our Bible 
refers to the 53d chapter of Isaiah 3d and 5th verses, and 
reader, if your Bible is like ours you will find from the ex- 
planatory comments that this 53d chapter in connection with 
the three preceding verses of the 5 2d chapter of Isaiah are 
regarded as a direct and special prophecy concerning Christ 
which his career fulfilled with remarkable accuracy, and all 
without an intimation that these words have any reference to 
anything else primarily or otherwise. That there is a striking 
parallel between the words referred to and the life and mission 
of Christ, as that mission is popularly regarded, no one need 
to deny. And that these words do have a secoiidary ful- 
fillment we cheerfully grant : there is certainly as much of a 
fulfillment here as there generally is of Bible imager)' and 
parables, which, however, are often only true in certain 
respects. 

For instance, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a 
grain of mustard seed," is true only in one respect, it had a 
small beginning compared with the growth and magnitude to 
which it was destined to attain. That some things spoken of 
in the New Testament as being the fulfillment of something 
spoken of in the Old are fulfilled only in a secondary sense 
we are not aware that any student of the Bible denies. For 
instance: the first verse of the 1 ith chapter of Hosea, — "I 
called my son out of Egypt," refers directly to the exodus of 
Israel from Egypt, their land of bondage, but as we learn 
from Matt, ii, 15, it has a secondary fulfillment — a verifica- 
tion, or an illustration in Christ, whose parents fled to Egypt 
to save the young child's life, and so when they returned to 
their own people, the expression I called my son out of Egypt 
becomes applicable, that is the incident fulfills or illustrates a 
parallel incident that had transpired man)* years before. But 
there can be nothing remarkable or supernatural in a sec- 
ondary fulfillment ; it is simply "The King of France with 



Christ's atonement reconsidered. 



63 



twenty thousand men, marched up a hill and then marched 
down again," which the King of Spain fulfilled by repeating 
the transaction. 

Now when the christian world concede what has already 
been intimated that that portion of the 53d and 53d chapters 
of Isaiah which is supposed to have had a fulfillment in Christ 
was fulfilled only in a secondary sense — that it was not writ- 
ten primarily with reference to Christ, then the popular idea 
of there being such redemptive virtue in the blood of Christ 
has lost one of its strongest pillars of support. We have 
been led to believe there are but few, even among those who, 
generally speaking, are very well acquainted with the scrip- 
tures, who have ever had their eyes opened to the meager 
support that the doctrine of Christ as an atoning sacrifice gets 
from the Old Testament prophecies. 

Rev. Nathaniel West, D. D., in his Complete Analvsis of 
the Bible, — a product of Herculean labor, under the title 
"Prophecy of his (Christ's) Propitiation," — from all the books 
of the Old Testament brings together only six verses, five of 
them from this 53d chapter of Isaiah which we now have un- 
der consideration, and one from Zech. ix, 11. As for this 
latter verse in Zech. with its context, so little capital can be 
made of it, viewed in any light, and its reference to Christ 
being virtually admitted to be only in a secondary sense, we 
shall pass it by asking the reader to study it at leisure. But 
we shall ask you to put your time with ours while we investi- 
gate the portion from Isaiah that bears upon the doctrine un- 
der consideration, — after saying once for all, without fear of 
successful contradiction, that there is not the slightest evidence 
in existence that the Jewish nation to whom the Bible was 
given ever entertained the thought from what they could learn 
from tneir Sacred Writings or elsewhere, that their expected 
Messiah was to save them through a propitiatory death. 

Xow let us go back to the beginning of the 53d chapter of 
Isaiah. Does not "Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O 
Zion," call upon Israel to get out from the bondage of Babv- 
lon? Does not "ye have sold yourself for naught," mean 
that then captors have paid nothing for them? Does not 



6 4 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



(9th verse) "Break forth into joy, sing together ye waste 
places of Jerusalem ; for the Lord hath comforted his people, 
he hath redeemed. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm 
in the eyes of all the nations, and all the nations, and all the 
ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart 
ye, depart ye, go ye out from among them, touch no unclean 
thing; go ye out of the midst of her." Does it not all mean 
that the fetters of Babylon are to be broken, and that Jerusa- 
lem is to be restored ? Right or wrong this is the teaching of 
the comments before us. But now with the 13th verse they 
would have us understand that the prophet without the slight- 
est intimation of a change of subject proceeds to delineate the 
character and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, the 
one spoken of as my servant, in the declaration, "Behold my 
servant shall deal prudently," they tell us is the Messiah. 
Now if we find that the Lord's people Israel before whom he 
is promising to go and deliver from bondage, is repeatedly 
spoken of as, my servant, by Isaiah it would seem to be a 
fair conclusion triat the prophet still continues to speak of 
Israel and has not changed his subject. The term "My 
servant," occurs fourteen times in the book of Isaiah. Let 
the prophet answer for himself the question to whom he 
refers. The 8th verse of the 41st chapter reads thus, But 
thou Israel art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the 
seed of Abraham my friend. In the 9th verse the words, 
"my servant," occur with equally unmistakable significance. 
The 42d chapter begins thus Behold "my servant whom I 
uphold," followed by several verses which most faithfully 
delineate the Lord Jesus with those characteristics with which 
we love to regard and adore him, but propitiatory sacrifice 
here finds no support whatever, but we must concede for all' 
of that, — " My servant" primarily refers to Israel, our 
friends of the comments referred to, to the contrary notwith- 
standing. With us, the 19th verse of the same chapter settles 
the matter. 

The expression, "Who is blind but my servant?" could 
never have been applied to Christ, the Messiah. And the 
comments before us, as if reluctantly, acknowledge the fact, 



Christ's atonement reconsidered. 



&5 



and admit that reference is had to "Israel, the covenant peo- 
ple of God," and further allow that it is often both difficult 
and unnecessary to determine whether the words ' ' my ser- 
vant" apply to Christ alone or, etc. We will now trust the 
reader to search out the other instances where the words ' ' my 
servant" occur without fear of loosing in the argument. 

Now to return to that portion of Isaiah to which we pro- 
pose to give especial attention, let us substitute the word Israel 
in the place of the words "my servant" from the 12th verse 
of the 5 2d Chap, to the close of the 53d Chap, and see how 
it fits as a key, to the question as to whom reference is had — - 
to Christ or to the people Israel : and let us understand all the 
nouns and pronouns to apply the same here as elsewhere in 
the writings of the prophet ; and to be prepared so to do, 
please notice for instance that in Chap, xlii, 24-25, in those 
few lines this one people Israel are alluded to as Jacob, Israel, 
we, they, him and he. Most certainly the 12th verse of the 
5 2d Chap. "For ye shall not go out with haste nor by flight : 
for the Lord will go before you : and the God of Israel will be 
your rereward," does not mean Christ but does mean Israel. 
Now, it is hard to believe that with the next stroke of his pen 
the prophet inserts an expression concerning an expected 
Messiah, when it does make such smooth reading in this (the 
13th verse) to substitute Israel for" my servant" instead of the 
word Christ, thus — Behold Israel shall deal prudently he 
shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Now regard- 
ing Israel as an individual or as a servant in bondage and dis- 
grace, not forgetting scriptural style of expression the 14th verse 
has a harmonious blending, thus — "As many were astonished 
at thee ; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his 
form more than the sons of men. Now when Israel is restor- 
ed again as a power among the nations, which God is now 
promising to accomplish, the 15th verse ("so shall he sprinkle 
many nations ; the kings shall shut their mouths at him ; for 
that which had not been told them shall they see ; and that 
which they had not heard shall they consider,") expresses a 
very natural consequence, that is, presuming the "sprinkling 
of many nations," was to be like in result to what Moses did 



66 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



(Exodus ix, 10.) "And they took ashes of the furnace and!, 
stood before Pharaoh ; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heav- 
en ; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon 
man, and upon beasts." The kings of the earth as a matter 
of course would shut their mouths at a rival power that 
springs into life from a condition of slavery ; but the humble 
Nazarine who reigns only in the hearts of men, while he min- 
gled among men did not receive very much attention from the 
kings of the earth. Chap. 5,2, 2-3, For he shall grow up be- 
fore him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground,, 
etc., well expresses the idea of a people so long extinguished 
as a people, starting into life again. And the last words of 
the third verse seems applicable to their situation, "and we 
(the people) hid as it were our faces from him (from Israel) ;; 
he was despised, and we esteemed him not," ashamed of 
Israel, — ashamed of themselves. 

The prophet continues, "Surely he hath borne our griefs,, 
and carried our sorrows : yet we did esteem him stricken r 
smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our 
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities ; the chas- 
tisement of our peace was upon him : and with his stripes we 
are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have 
turned every one to his own way ; and the Lord hath laid on 
him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was 
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth ; he is brought as a 
lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is 
dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from pris- 
on and from, judgment ; and who shall declare his generation? 
for he was cut off out of the land of the living : for the trans- 
gression of my people was he stricken. And he made his 
grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death ; be- 
cause he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his 
mouth." 

This language all comes into line and harmony if we but 
remember that with this people all misfortune and affliction 
were regarded as special punishment for transgression and sin, 
and regarding "he," in such expressions as, "Surely he has 
borne our griefs" as referring to Israel, and regarding "we" 



•Christ's atonement reconsidered. 



6 7 



in such expressions as, 44 All we like sheep have gone astray," 
■as referring to Israel's people, as we have shown it proper to 
do, according to the usage of these words in Chap. 42, 24-25, 
we have the simple story of an erring people brought to pun- 
ishment, told through a beautiful characteristic scriptural 
imagery. Notice, — 4 4 he is brought as a lamb to the slaugh* 
ter and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb so he opened 
not his mouth;" again, — 44 And he made his grave with the 
wicked and with the rich in his death," how sublimely the 
prophet pictures the humiliated condition of his people. 

Whether or not they of the comments before us are aware 
that the pronoun 44 he" in these verses refer primarily to. Israel 
rather than to Christ, we will allow the reader to judge, after 
calling attention to their comment upon the word 44 he" as it 
occurs in the expression, 4 4 And he made his grave with the 
wicked, and with the rich in his death." We copy verbatim, 
as follows — i4 or, 4 he,' that is my people, appointed his grave 
with the wicked, but he was with the rich in his death." 
That 44 he" stands for my people, that is, for Israel, elsewhere 
in this chapter as well as it is acknowledged to be the fact in 
this instance is what we are trying to make plain, yet it is 
contrary to what we have been taught, but please notice that 
in this instance, to hold that the word 44 he" refers to Christ, 
would be an affirmation that Christ made his grave with the 
wicked, when in fact Joseph, 44 who also himself was Jesus' 
disciple, laid the body of Jesus in his own new tomb. Who 
would presume to say of the disciple Joseph that he was 
wicked ? But it would seem to be perfectly consistent to say 
that 44 he," — Israel in his bondage, in his death as an indepen- 
dent people, made his grave with the wicked, and with the 
rich in his death. The latter clause of this (9th) verse 44 be- 
cause he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his 
mouth," together with the general import of this portion of 
scripture, indicates, at first thought that there must be two 
parties in the transaction, — the wicked, who like sheep had 
gone astray, — and the innocent upon whom the Lord had lain 
the iniquity of them all. And inasmuch as we have seen fit 
to regard the words 44 we" and 4 4 he" as referring to Israel — 



68 



REVOLL'TIOX FOR THE CHURCHES. 



and to Israel's people — that is, all referring to one and the 
same people, it becomes necessary that the question, how can 
this one people be regarded in such connection as both wick- 
ed and innocent, should be answered. To our mind the an- 
swer is both easy and conclusive. We think we have a hap- 
py illustration from a few pages in the history of our own 
people of the United States. We have been a guilty people 
and have sinned in the sight of heaven by allowing the curse 
of slavery to get a footing upon our soil and to be perpetuated 
and to extend until three millions of people were held in 
chains of servitude and were subject to the cruelties of task- 
masters - r but at last the day of retribution came, and He who 
will not restrain his anger forever let in upon us the demon of 
war with all its attendent destruction, suffering and woe. 
But upon whom ? Upon the nation to be sure, but not upon 
those past generations of the people who were directly respon- 
sible for the evil, for they had all gone to their account long 
before, without a thought of war. And upon one generation 
was laid the iniquity of them all r — that is,, so far as the dire 
calamity of war was concerned. And a majority of that gen- 
eration deplored the existence of slavery and were seeking for 
peaceable ways and means to check and finally overthrow the 
evil. But for all of that,, for the transgression of my people 
(past generations) was he (an innocent after generation) 
stricken. And so we find it throughout all the walks of life, 
■ * The iniquities of the parents are visited upon the children 
down to the third and fourth generation." Could the question 
have been asked of each and every soldier in the war of the 
rebellion, Why do you lay your life upon your country's altar? 
Think you, my friend, that there would have been one who 
would have replied that he offered his life expecting that it 
would in any way or manner atone for the sins of the people : 
The application of our illustration from American history 
to the matter in hand is easy. By reason of transgression and 
iniquities the people of Israel were brought into bondage ; as 
a consequence "he," — that is, their children and children's 
children, who had no part in these transgressions and in- 
iquities, — was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet (from help- 



CHRIST S ATONEMENT RECONSIDERED. 



69 



lessness) he opened not his mouth, — " And he made his grave 
with the wicked and the rich in his death." If any thing 
further is needed to show that the latter words are applicable 
to Israel in his death as a free people, remember that it is a 
matter of history, that Babylon, that held this captive people 
was called a " city of merchants," and into her lap flowed 
either through conquest or commerce the wealth of almost all 
known lands. Justly therefore might the prophets call her, 
"the great," and "the praise of the whole earth." And be 
it further remembered that in consequence of the opulence 
and luxury of the inhabitants, corruptness and licentiousness 
of manners and morals were carried to a frightful extent. 

Now, trusting that we have made it to be clearly under- 
stood that the words "he" and "we" as they occur in this 
portion of Isaiah refer to one people, who as a nation are 
spoken of as both wicked and innocent, from the fact that at 
a certain early period in their history the controlling individ- 
ual influence of the people living at that time was wicked 
which brought them to a degraded condition which the same 
people in after years endured and suffered, — that is, the same 
people or nationality, — though composed of new and inno- 
cent generations of men and women. 

The comments that we have already made are applicable 
to the 1 oth verse which reads as follows : Yet it pleased the 
Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief: when thou 
shaft make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, 
he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall 
prosper in his hands. The Israelitish belief that the suffer- 
ings and misfortunes of life are always punishment for sin im- 
plies a punishment to the extent of the demands of justice, 
after which in the case of Israel they would be as if they had 
not sinned, and so, "when thou shalt make thy soul an offer- 
ing for sin," or (when thou shalt have been sufficiently pun- 
ished for sin ) " he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his 
days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand," 
that is, — when delivered from the punishment of bondage 
his seed shall multiply and prosperity and length of days shall 
be his. Verses 11 and 12 are easily understood as expressing 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



Israel's happy state as compared with the misery of the past ; 
and the conclusion would seem to be unavoidable that the 
words, "Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great 
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong," are every way 
fitting and appropriate when applied to a nation among na- 
tions ; but dividing has no place in a description of the estate 
of Him who was to have all power both in heaven and on 
earth, and the idea of dividing the spoil with the strong 
does not harmonize with the life and teachings of Him the 
whole tenor of which not only gave no sanction to the taking 
of spoils, but he went so far as to enjoin upon us such patient 
submission to the greed of others as is indicated by the fol- 
lowing as well as by other like declarations. "And if any 
man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat let 
him have thy cloak also." We find the next chapter (the 
54th) commented upon as an expansion of the words, "He 
shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied." But they 
have nothing in particular to say of the 2d to the 10th verses 
inclusive. Please notice the language of the 2d and 3d. 

"Enlarge the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth 
the curtains of thy habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, 
and strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt break forth on the 
right hand and on the left ; and thy seed shall inherit the Gen- 
tiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited." While 
these words may apply in a secondary sense to the advancing 
kingdom of Christ, they do most certainly apply with far 
greater fitness to the Israelitish people starting into renewed 
and vigorous life, — spreading out and enlarging, as they grow 
in strength and numbers. 

In the 4th verse, the words, "for thou shalt forget the 
shame of thy youth, etc.," are fitting when applied to a na- 
tion redeemed from slavery. But Christ never had whereof 
to be ashamed, and, considered as a being who came from 
heaven he never knew the period of youth, while considered 
as a man if in any sense there was shame it must have been 
concerning an ignominious death at the close of his life but 
not in his youth. 

But now we will close the book of Isaiah after calling at- 



Christ's atonement reconsidered. 71 

tention to the 8th verse of this- 54 chapter and ask the reader 
to answer for himself the question. To whom has the proph- 
et reference ? These are the words, — In a little wrath I hid 
my face from thee for a moment ; but with everlasting kind- 
ness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer. 
When did the Father (one person of the Trinity) hide his face 
in wrath from the Son, another person of the Trinity ? We 
have thus carefully analyzed the foregoing portion of scripture 
knowing it to be the stronghold in all the writings of the Old 
Testament from which the doctrine, of Christ, a -propitiatory 
sacrifice has received its support. But if the reader believes 
that this doctrine has other support that is worthy of the name 
from the Old Testament, the surest remedy for the delusion is 
for you to investigate and analyze for yourself. 

As for any secondary fulfillment we fail to see how anyone 
can regard it as being probable that God ever designed that an 
inspired prophecy should have reference to more than one 
event, or to one particular series of events ; for if it was other- 
wise then there could be no end to the number of times that 
the fulfillment of a prophecy might repeat itself, for as thf 
ages roll on history is forever repeating itself. So far as the 
prophecy concerning the people Israel is concerned in its be- 
ing fulfilled in Christ in a secondary sense there can be no im- 
propriety in speaking of it as a fulfillment ; yet the same ideas 
and principles involved are being fulfilled every day we live, 
in every instance where the innocent suffer for the wrong do- 
ing of the guilty. Yet we deny in all these instances that the 
suffering of the innocent mitigates the guilt or the punishment 
due the guilty one jot or tittle. And if the contrary is true 
in the case of Christ, it was not true in the experience of 
Israel and therefore the one could not have been an exacl ful- 
fillment of the other. 

And now what is the honest course to pursue, and how r 
shall we best promote respecl for and confidence in the Holy 
Scriptures? Shall we insist upon it that God through the 
mediumship of his prophet while revealing matters concerning 
his chosen people Israel in a manner and with words that in- 
dicate a continuation of the same subject matter, and without 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



an intimation of a change of subject proceeds to sandwich in 
a plan of salvation for the whole human race that was to be 
the stepping stone, and the only stepping stone from earth to 
heaven? And shall we insist upon it that these words are a 
faithful picture of the Lord Jesus, when all we find 
therein contained that is characteristic of his life and teaching 
(aside from his death) may be thus simply stated. He shall 
deal prudently, and he was patient under tribulation ; but 
nothing of the golden rule, nothing of his love : and even his 
suffering and death is not portrayed as voluntary, but through 
helplessness he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter : will the 
cause of truth be best served to thus hold and teach ? Or by 
accepting the self-evident truth that God in his wisdom, and 
in his own mysterious way, is now, and has ever been upbuild- 
ing the human race by slow and sometimes almost impercepti- 
ble degrees ; and that in primitive time in the government of 
his chosen people when all the earth was given over to sacri- 
fice, — human and otherwise, to propitiate their gods ; he could 
do no better in order to secure recognition, reverence and 
obedience than through the awe inspiring mysticism of the 
Mosaic ceremonial law ; however bloody, burdensome and re- 
volting it may seem to us moderns, who flatter ourselves that 
we have attained to a higher degree of culture and refinement. 
But in the course of time God would bring his people up 
higher, and thus declares, (Isaiah i, n-15) "To what pur- 
pose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me ? saith the 
Lord : I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of 
fed beasts ; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of 
lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before me, 
who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts ? 
Bring no more vain oblations ; incense is an abomination unto 
me ; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, 
I cannot away with ; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth ; 
they are a trouble unto me ; I am weary to bear them. And 
when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from 
you ; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear ; your 
hands are full of blood." 



Christ's atonement reconsidered. 



73 



And with what will the Lord be pleased ? The inspired 
penman continues. Wash ye, make you clean ; put away the 
evil of your doings from befor^ mine eyes ; cease to do evil : 
learn to do well ; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge 
the fatherless, plead for the widow. Will this desired change 
be brought about in a day, or within a year? No. But some 
eight hundred years after, some noticeable progress was being 
made. Philip gives an illustration, when under the guidance 
of the angel of the Lord he went toward the south unto the 
way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza and met a 
man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority who had come 
to Jerusalem for to worship. Was returning : and sitting in 
his chariot read Esaies, the prophet, and Philip hearing him 
said, understandest thou what thou readest? And he said 
how can I except some man should guide me ? — The place of 
the scripture which he read was this : He was led as a sheep 
to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearers, so 
opened he not his mouth, etc. And the eunuch answered 
Philip and said, I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet 
this ? of himself or of some other man ? Then Philip opened 
his mouth, and began at the same scripture and preached unto 
him Jesus. We shall never know just how Philip presented 
Jesus to this Ethiopian ; but we have every reason to suppose 
that he enlarged to the fullest extent upon the blood of Jesus 
as an offering for sin ; and that being baptized on confession 
of faith the eunuch went back to resume the duties of his 
responsible position under Queen Candace, rejoicing that he 
need no more to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem to offer vain 
oblations, but that God, being a spirit, might everywhere be 
worshipped in spirit and in truth. Yet so wedded was he to 
the idea of sacrificing to the Deity, that if Philip had enlarg- 
ed upon Jesus and his love, to the exclusion of Jesus and the 
cross, the eunuch would never have been baptized, — would 
never have become christian. May not the church, we ask, 
do more for Christianity, — do more for a sin cursed world to 
openly concede that God, who in his mysterious way can 
44 make even the wrath of man to praise him," has so inspired 
the writing of his- Word that it admitted of such a presenta- 



74 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



tion as to lead men like this Ethiopian out of such bondage of 
soul and body, into a condition that enabled rational beings to 
get a better view and understanding of their Creator and their 
relations to him, and into a sphere comparatively so much 
higher and better. But now the world having become thor- 
oughly weaned from the burdensome requirements of the 
Mosaic ceremonial law, and has long been well established 
upon the higher plane ; and thoughtful men are regarding this 
plan of salvation through "the blood of the Lamb," as some- 
thing to them unintelligible, and the noticeable influence the 
embracing of the same has upon the lives of its adherents is 
so faint, — said thoughtful men become indifferent to the whole 
matter of religion. 

In view of all this, should we not thank God that to-day 
when we read these same scriptures illuminated by the clearer 
light of the 19th century that we find no arbitrary necessity 
for enforcing upon the attention of the people, this peculiar 
phase of the christian religion that has been urged with such 
power and persistence and usefulness through past ages of the 
christian era ? 

Should we not thank God that as husks are necessary for 
the protection and maturity of the heart of the tender plant 
through to the full corn in the ear, so Christianity was clothed 
and protected through its early development, so that to-day 
while we lay aside the husks with feelings of respect and 
reverence, we may feed the flock from the maturer grain gar- 
nered in the granary of the gospel of the Lord Jesus : and 
feed it simple and pure as it was fed by himself more than 
1800 years ago; feeling assured that in so doing, — that in 
making the doctrine of atonement through his death and resur- 
rection no more conspicuous than did he himself, the gospel 
of the Lord Jesus can never be made a stumbling block to 
any man worthy to be called a man. Should we not be 
thankful that we have a right so to do ? Nay ! Is there not a 
solemn and fearful responsibility resting upon us if we fail so 
to do? 

Now reader as we are about to part the question comes 
home. Have we given expression to thoughts that should be 



Christ's atonement reconsidered. 



75 



erased? And what have we left unsaid that ought to have 
found expression? If we have succeeded in making clear to 
you the firm convictions of our innermost soul, we cheerfully 
accept the responsibility of each and every thought we have 
expressed. But we shall close feeling that much more could 
be added to vindicate our views. But we shall feel that we 
have not written in vain if it shall prove that we have been 
the humble means of inducing others to search for themselves: 
not to search for the purpose of vindicating some doctrine, 
but to search independently for the truth. A marked feature 
of this little work is in regard to the apostles ; that while it is 
conceded of them that they were remarkable men, endowed 
with remarkable supernatural powers : yet there was more of 
the human about them than of the Divine. That they work- 
ed and preached for a purpose. They were after men, — after 
converts to a new religion ; and they were not so celestial, so 
angelic, so God-like and so divested of their human nature, as 
to be able at all times to present the new religion unmixed 
with the old into which they and all the world around them 
had been born and bred, and yet there can be no question but 
that under an overruling Providence it has been better for the 
world that the apostles taught and preached as they did. 
And so we would say to everyone, study the characters of the 
apostles, and where in the gospels and in the epistles it says — 
"that it might be fulfilled," trace out the scripture to which 
reference is had, and examine it together with the context, 
and we venture the prediction that if you have never done so 
before your ideas of prophecy will be somewhat modified. 

And we would further suggest to those who have never 
had access to the Apocryphal New r Testament, a work embrac- 
ing about the same amount of writing as the Acts of the 
apostles together with the Epistles, would aid one very much 
in forming conclusions concerning the wisdom of accepting 
the writings of the apostles as an infallible guide for all time, 
that is, viewed in a literal or verbal sense. For the Apocry- 
phal works were considered sacred by Christians during the 
first four centuries after the birth of Christ, which fact would 



7<5 



REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 



seem to indicate that they are still entitled to have a little 
bearing in shaping our theological conclusions. 

While we have endeavored to show that Christians have 
entertained false and exaggerated ideas concerning the expedi- 
ency of the death and resurrection of Christ, it now occurs to 
us that we have omitted a few words that we had intended 
to have written with particular reference to the expediency 
of his resurrection. 

We believe his resurrection to have been expedient in that 
it served a very important purpose, viz : It served the impor- 
tant purpose of bringing "life and immortality to light." 
One in our day will scarcely realize how little the Jewish peo- 
ple could learn of a future life from - the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures until attention has been called to the fact that such is the 
dearth of allusions to a life after physical death, that such 
words as everlasting life, immortal and immortality nowhere 
occurs throughout that great collection of books, The Old 
Testament. And one may wade through book after book of 
this collection of books and not find one single passage that 
arrests the attention as indicating the possibility of a future 
life for man. 

The righteous had no lack of a promise of reward but it 
all partook of the nature of vjorldly prosperity ; the principal 
inducements for one to be good, was a promise of "length of 
days," and an " inheritance of the earth." But an inheritance 
of Heaven w 7 as only brought fully to light through Christ, the 
possibility and reality of which he fully demonstrated by his 
resurrection and by his reappearing again and again from the 
dead. 

And who is prepared to say that the apostles upon whose 
shoulders rested the responsibility of promulgating the new 7 
religion would ever have gone forth facing the hatred and de- 
rision of the world, had not Jesus their Lord and Master re- 
appeared unto them, — the living from the dead, — thus 
strengthening their faltering faith and expanding their dim 
perceptions of immortality, and their hope of eternal glory, 
now made certain to them through the medium of their own 



Christ's atonement reconsidered. 



77 



senses of seeing and hearing. Many years after, Peter thus 
expresses his appreciation of the resurrection of Christ, (ist 
Peter i, 3-4) "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath be- 
gotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Je- 
sus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, 
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven 
for you." 

Then truly have we not enough to preach to the world 
concerning "Christ and him crucified," — and him raised from 
the dead, that is of vital interest, maintaining that it was truly 
expedient for his disciples, and for the world that he should go 
away and come again, without incessantly sounding in the 
ears of an enlightened people, the hitherto oft repeated senti- 
ment, "By his blood he purchased me." 

Were we living several centuries back in the world's histo- 
ry we could not hope to profit by any other style of preaching 
than that adopted by St. Paul and his co-laborers. We com- 
mend Paul for the course he confesses to have pursued when 
he first introduced the gospel among the worldly-wise though 
heathenish people of the city of Corinth. 

Hear him, ist Cor. ii, 1-2, "And I brethren when I came 
unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom 
declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined 
not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him 
crucified. We also commend him for • his straightforwardness 
in confessing as he does in the 6th verse, " Howbeit we speak 
wisdom among the7n that are perfect." We find this last 
expression explained as follows, which explanation we sup- 
pose meets with the popular approval, most certainly it meets 
with oitr approval. Preach wisdom, "that which is truly 
wise in the estimation of God and those who are like him." 

Them that are per feci, "who have maturity of knowl- 
edge, and spiritual discernment, and are thus prepared to re- 
ceive the deeper revelations of the gospel." What can be 
plainer than that Paul recognized the folly of attempting to 
administer the same nourishment to infants that grown people 



\ 



7S REVOLUTION FOR THE CHURCHES. 

demand : and that he understood full well that there was a 
higher wisdom for those who could bear it, than the manner 
in which he preached " Christ and him crucified," to those 
who were as mere babes in Christ? And to-day are not our 
christian and semi-christian communities sufficiently mature 
and qualified to receive and be profited by this higher wisdom? 
Right or wrong it is what the silent are thinking. 



[finis.] 



